Flowers
by Cuirlfox369
Summary: Lili has just moved back to the town she used to live in. She usually spends her time in the old park at the old swing set that no one ever goes to anymore. So when flowers start appearing at the swing set for her, who could've sent them?
1. Blue Rosemary

**Ok, my first BelaLiech fic. And it's a multichapter one. Am I getting in over my head, or aiming too high? I don't think so. Will I really have time to do this? I hope so. ^^' With school and all I never know sometimes. But I'll try. Enjoy~ (Even if it sucks because I know I'm not the best author out there. I'm still a student and all so don't expect it to be perfect. I'll try to come as close to perfect as I can, just don't expect it to be.)

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Sometimes we look back at points in our life and see just how pivotal it was. We wonder what it would be like had we not done this or had done that. Looking back, it is a moment that is important, but at the time it seems to be of little importance whatsoever. And it seems we base our lives on these moments that were never planned, barely even thought of, so much that it only happened at all due to pure, raw circumstance only set up by a small whim. A woman visits a cafe for the first time that has been around for years and meets a man who later would be her husband. Two children play with each other for just a few minutes on the first day of school and later become utterly inseparable friends till death. These little moments changed these people's lives, yet at the time the woman could have just as easily gone to the cafe next week, three days after the man had quit his job as a waiter at said cafe. The children could have ignored each other and played with the countless other children at school that day. Such simple decisions make such an impact when looking back, but it could have been oh so very different had one tiny detail been changed.

We find ourselves at such a moment in young Natalya's life. She is naught but a tiny girl, no more than seven years old and the youngest in her family. Today she is wearing a dark blue dress and a big white bow in her long platinum blonde hair. Normally she would be at home with her brother and sister, but for some reason she felt like taking a walk down the street. She told herself she would turn around and go back before she went to far, but when she noticed a small path leading into the woods that was almost completely hidden from view, curiosity compelled her to go down it. The path, you see, was just a broken up asphalt path that was once an old hiking trail that wound around an even older playground, that now was nothing but a rusty swing set with only two swings. Even Natalya could see it had been abandoned. _Probably when they built the newer park years ago, _she thought.

She followed the little path and soon heard the small squeak of rusty chains. She carefully poked her head out from behind a tree and spotted a little girl in a pinkish purple dress with two braids of blonde hair on her shoulders. She seemed younger than Natalya, but only by a year or two at the most. The girl seemed like she was trying to swing on the swing set on her own, but didn't quite know how. The girl, sensing she was being watched, turned around as best she could while still in the swing and looked at Natalya.

She smiled at Natalya and said simply, "Hello. My name's Lili. What's yours?"

"I'm Natalya," she said as she stepped our from behind the tree and approached the swing set. "Nice to meet you."

"Natalya. That's a pretty name," said Lili, smiling yet again.

"What are you doing here all alone?"

"My brother was at Roderich's house, and I got bored, so I came here. I come here a lot when big brother's busy."

"I was just going for a walk when I saw the path to here." She looked around. "It's so peaceful here. Almost hard to believe the rest of the town isn't that far away at all."

"It's nice. Since you're here, maybe you can help me. I can't quite figure out how to swing on my own. Can you push me? I'm sure I can figure it out from there."

Natalya moved to stand behind the girl on the swing. "Sure. Just don't fall off." She grabbed the chains that held the sturdy wooden plank that served as the seat of the swing and backed up as far as she could while still gripping the swing. Then she let go and pushed for just a moment. Lili giggled happily and Natalya decided she liked her laugh. _Makes my heart feel all happy,_ she thought. She pushed Lili on the swing a few more times before going to side and watching the girl.

Lili looked at the other girl. "Get on the other swing, so we can swing together." She smiled, and Natalya smiled back, something she didn't do often even though she was young. Natalya hopped onto the other swing and soon the two were swinging side by side in almost perfect unison. Natalya's smile grew and she laughed. Lili took her right hand off of the chains and held it out to Natalya. The other girl barely had to think before smiling at Lili and taking her right hand with her left. The two remained like that for some time until they grew tired and just sat in the swings and talked.

Lili told Natalya about her brother Vash and his Austrian friend. She told her about the nice Hungarian girl named Elizaveta and yet another girl named Chelle who was born in Seychelles who were her friends.

Natalya told Lili about her brother named Ivan and her sister Katyusha. She told Lili she didn't have any friends. At this, Lili just smiled and told her, "Great! Then that makes me your first friend." Natalya smiled at that. If this was what it felt like to have a friend, she liked it.

All too soon, the sky grew a darker shade of blue that turned to a peach shade of pink in the west. Lili looked at the sky and frowned. "It's getting darker. We'll have to go soon..."

Natalya looked up as well, before looking over at Lili. "It's okay. We can play again tomorrow, right?"

Lili looked at her feet. "Well, actually... we can't. My brother is at Roderich's house because he's saying goodbye. Earlier today I said goodbye to my other friends. Our dad got a promotion at his job. We're moving several cities away from here, so we won't be able to come here often at all. I'm sorry. I just had to come here one last time before we left. My brother says we'll come back when he's old enough to care for me and him on his own, but I don't know when that will be."

Natalya looked at the girl beside her. Her chest felt as if someone has just taken the largest rock on earth and put it inside her heart. "B-but we just met... how can you leave?"

"I'm sorry." Lili said. She sniffed and tried not to cry, for she too hated to leave her new friend so suddenly.

Natalya stood up and walked over to stand in front of Lili. She felt bad, but she didn't want to cry in front of her new friend. She put her hands on Lili's shoulders and looked her dead in the eye, mustering as much seriousness as a seven year old could. "You can't help that you're leaving. It's okay. You just be sure to come back. And when you do," she smiled softly, "I'll be waiting right here to swing with you again."

Lili smiled and hugged her. "Thanks," she said. The two left the old park that day hand in hand, only letting go when they reached the street again and had to go their separate ways.

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Natalya never told a soul about that day, but she visited that old swing set at least once a day, even if it was only for a moment. Soon however, her visits began to get less frequent. Her time was soon taken up by stalking her brother. She didn't forget Lili. At least once a month she would visit that swing set, but it became something she did not do to wait for Lili, but to simply get away from everyone else for a while and remember what it felt like to have a friend.

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Lili moved away the day after meeting Natalya. She did move back to the town one summer when she was 14 and Natalya was 15. She lived with her brother in a house next to her brother's friend Roderich. However, by then she had forgotten about Natalya. She did remember the swing set though. She went there almost every day.

The first day of school was a little bit like a reunion for Lili. She met with the few friends that hadn't known about her and Vash moving back to town. One girl struck Lili as familiar, but she just couldn't place her. She seemed to stare at Lili, who could feel the stare without looking, but whenever Lili turned around to look at the girl, who sat behind her in nearly all her classes, the girl would look away. In the hallway before lunch, the girl finally talked to her. All she said was 'hello'.

"Hello," Lili said. "I'm Lili. Who are you?"

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Natalya's heart nervously beat in her chest when she saw Lili. Her hair was no longer worn in braids and was cut shorter, but it was still the same shade of blonde. She even had a purple ribbon in her hair. _That was her favorite color, wasn't it?_ She shared all her classes with Lili (as she had seen from a glance at her schedule when Lili had almost left it on her desk) and took a seat behind her. She watched her, but was too nervous to speak. Finally though, she was able to say hello to her in the hallway just before lunch. What she said in return, however, crushed nearly all hope she had of gaining back her one friend.

"Hello. Who are you?"

Natalya, had she had less control of her emotions, would have looked as shocked as if the shorter blonde had grown two heads. Instead, she simply looked at her feet and muttered, "I'm Natalya."

Before anything else could be said she walked off. She walked out of the school unnoticed and headed to the swing set, where she cried silently. So long she had waited for a friend, who didn't even remember her name. She wiped away her tears and decided that one way or another she wouldn't give up. She would make Lili remember. _Why?_ A tiny voice in her head asked. _Why try gain the friendship of a girl who forgot you? All you need is your brother. Besides, you don't love her._ Natalya thought for a moment before mentally replying to the little voice. _You're wrong. I do. At least enough to want her as my friend again.

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Lili didn't see Natalya for the rest of the day. With her purple back-pack over her shoulder, she walked to the old swing set. It was quiet and she could sit here and do her homework in peace. Before then, she had thought she was the only one who knew about the old park, or at least bothered to go there. Then she saw the first flower, a light blue rosemary, sitting in the left swing. There was a single card attached that simply had information about the flower (not a handwritten card just a typed up one that seemed as if it came with the flower when it was bought), but the main thing that caught Lili's eye was the meaning of the flower: remembrance.

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**Ok. Was that long? I dunno. It did take a while to write though. Plz fav or comment or something. **

**I'll try to post a new chapter weekly, but if it doesn't always happen then I am oh so sorry. But give or take I should know and be able to tell you ahead of time or something. Mostly expect the chapters on Saturdays, if not that day then Friday or Sunday.**

**I hope you enjoyed, and plz tell me if I made a mistake somewhere.**

**I own nothing!**


	2. Purple Gladiolus

**I seriously am excited about this fic. ^^ I really hope whoever's reading this enjoys it. That being said, let's just move on with the story.

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Now, Natalya was a very calculating and determined girl, especially when there was something she wanted. (Others could call her crazy for it, but then again she never really bothered with caring what they thought.) So it didn't take her long to form a plan, which was just a well. School would let out at some point and she knew after that it wouldn't be too long before Lili was at the swing set. The sooner she set her plan in action the better.

Soon Natalya was walking into the flower shop at the edge of town. Luckily it was empty- _Then again, why wouldn't it be. Most everyone who might come here is at school having lunch right now, aren't they. - _except for the cashier. She walked around and looked at the flowers, reading the little cards attached to them that listed information on them such as when and where they bloomed and such like that. Mentally she listed the flowers she thought she might need to remember. Finally she picked out a light blue rosemary.

A few minutes later she was walking to the swing set the flower in hand. She made sure the card was tied tight enough and let the flower lay on the left swing. She glanced at her watch and realized that school would be letting out soon. She didn't need anyone see her coming from here lest they tell Lili. Walking as fast as she could without being noticed, she near fled the area, not slowing till she was home.

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Lili stared at the flower as if sooner or later it would grow a mouth and tell her who had left it there for her. Finally she carefully set it in the swing next to her and started on her homework, hoping taking her mind off of it would give her an answer.

Her homework was finished- everything from a simple review on parts of a cell in science to problems 1-20 on page 10 in her math textbook- but it was practically automatic, her mind never fully taking in the answers her hands were writing. Finally she found herself suddenly aware of her idle hands and realized she had finished her homework. She glanced up and noted the sky was starting to get ever so slightly darker. She decided to head home or Vash would start to worry.

She contemplated taking the flower with her. Her brother would no doubt ask questions, questions she couldn't answer at the moment. _I'll have to sneak it past him, won't I? _She openly sighed at that. She never felt good keeping things from her brother. _You can do it. Besides, maybe this whole flower thing will be over by tomorrow._

Several minutes later she was walking into the living room of the house she and Vash owned. Her brother was in the kitchen, probably cooking dinner. She crept up to her room and dropped her back-pack on the floor. She got a vase, filled it with water from the bathroom, dropped the flower in it and set it on the table beside her bed. _I can't tell brother... but I can tell someone else. Elizaveta knows a lot about relationship things. Maybe she can help me._

She picked up the house phone on the table and dialed Elizaveta's number. Lili held it to her ear and waited for the other girl to pick up. Finally she heard a small click and a simple hello from her friend.

"Hey. Eliza. I need to ask you about something."

"Oh. Hey Lili. What's up?"

"W-what do you do when you get flowers.. but you have no clue who sent them?"

"Ooo~ someone sent you flowers. How sweet. What flower?"

"A blue rosemary."

"The flower that means remembrance?"

"Um, yeah. How'd you know?"

"It's important to know what flowers mean so you can pick up on subtle meanings."

"Um, okay? Anyway, can you help me please? I really want to know who sent them."

"I'll see what I can do, but I make no promises. Yaoi is my main thing, but for you I'll make an exception."

Lili smiled. "Thanks Eliza. Please try to tell only who you have to. I'd prefer to keep this whole thing on the down low, just in case it turns out to be nothing."

Eliza nodded absentmindedly then realized that Lili couldn't see her. "Sure. No prob. It may take me a bit to figure out exactly who, but I can already assure you of one thing; more than likely it'll be a girl."

"Wait, what? How do you know for sure?" Lili asked, panic fairly obvious in her voice. "I-I mean, I don't have anything against anyone like that, b-but I've never even thought of any girl like that. Granted I haven't exactly thought of any guys like that either, but s-still!"

Elizaveta openly sighed. "Stop panicking okay? It's perfectly fine. And I know it's not a guy because I keep a close eye on any guy that exhibits any strange behavior. If any guy in this town goes to the local flower shop, I'll see him coming a mile away. And no guys went into any flower shop today and bought a blue rosemary. Before you panic and dismiss this when it's barely begun, at least think it over a bit."

Lili was silent for a moment before speaking. "Fine, I'll think about it."

"Anyway, on a lighter note, cheer tryouts are next week. Are you gonna try out?"

"I don't know yet. I hope to. I still have to ask brother about it."

"You should. Besides, at least once throughout the season we get together and have a slumber party. It's always so much fun. You'd love it."

Lili laughed. "Sounds great."

Vash called from the living room, "Lili. It's time for dinner. Come set the table."

"I'll be down in a minute!" Lili replied, pulling the phone away from her slightly and covering one end of the phone. Pulling it back, she told Elizaveta, "I have to go now Eliza. I'll call you back later if I can."

"Okay. Bye Lili. I'll get started on trying to find your mystery girl. Don't forget to think about it-

"Couldn't forget if I tried."

"-and don't forget to ask about cheerleader tryouts."

"Okay. Bye Eliza."

"See ya Lili. Bye." And with that, the two hung up.

Lili set the phone down, jumped off the bed and bounded down the stairs. She could hear Vash finishing dinner in the kitchen. She set the table for two as quick as she could without breaking anything and barely noticed Vash watching her until she had stopped. He placed their dinner on the table and sat in the seat next to Lili.

"What is it?" he asked, obviously suspicious of something.

"What are you talking about brother?" Lili asked. There were truly two reasons why she never lied to her brother: for one, she didn't like to; secondly, she was not a good liar.

"You know what I mean. The only time you move that fast is when you need to really tell me something or you're not telling me something."

_ Both._ "Um, I just wanted to ask if I could try out for cheer-leading next week."

Vash closed his eyes and seemed to think about it for a bit. "Don't you think it's a bit dangerous? What if you fall and twist your ankle or break your neck?"

"I promise I'll be careful. Elizaveta, Chelle and a lot of my other friends are trying out. It sounds like fun. Please?"

"It's not just fun and games, you'll have to work too, ya know?"

Lili nodded. "I know. And I'm fully prepared for that. So please can I try out?"

Vash sighed, "Fine. Just don't get hurt. That's all I ask." In truth, he couldn't really deny his little sister anything if he wanted to. Luckily she wasn't the type to ask for too much.

"Thank you big brother." She leaned over and hugged him, smiling the happiest smile she could. Vash simply nodded, smiled a little himself, and then told her to eat her dinner before it got cold.

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For the next few days, a blue rosemary never failed to show up at the swing set. Saturday and Sunday were the only two days Lili didn't receive a flower. It almost worried her, but when Monday rolled around, yet another flower had been placed at the swing set; however, this time is wasn't a rosemary.

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Monday morning for Natalya was the most distracting for her. She watched Lili carefully enough to see she was planning on trying out for cheer-leading. The question now was if she would do the same to spend more time with her. Not only that, but she wanted to choose a new flower today. Something besides rosemary, but what? Mentally she had scrolled through the list of flowers at least one hundred times, leaving her cereal near untouched. _I'll just start at the beginning... but where is that exactly? It would have to be that day a few years ago. What happened that day that would work into one of the flowers?_

With a flash of realization, she practically ran out the door once she dumped the poor forgotten cereal in the sink. Once she stepped into the shop, however, all the happiness of a resolution vanished in an instant. There, standing in the middle of the store, was Elizaveta, a knowing smirk spread across her face. The slight smile on Natalya's face vanished in an instant as fear/panic set in like a tidal wave. It didn't show on her face, but was still easily seen by the panic in her eyes.

"I think it's sweet," she said.

It took Natalya a second to understand what she said. "What?" she asked, dumbfounded by the simple statement.

"The flowers. I think it's sweet. I won't tell Lili, but-" She pulled a frying pan out of nowhere and held it behind her back, yet it leaned to the side in plain view. Suddenly Natalya felt smaller than the brunette and could swear some dark aura was surrounding her. "-Lili _is_ my best friend and if you hurt her. I _will_ make you regret it. _Do you __understand_?"

Natalya nodded. In an instant, all creepiness was gone and replaced by the little flower shop._ Major mental note: Do _NOT_ get on Elizaveta's bad side._

"See ya at school!" she called as she left the shop. Natalya still just nodded. After recovering from all that, she picked out the flower she needed, brought it and left the shop.

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That day, Lili found a purple gladiolus sitting on the left swing. The card showed the meaning as being love at first sight. On the front of the card, written in purple ink was simply this: _"Please remember. Remember the day we first met. The day I made my first friend."

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**Let's clarify a few things:**

** First of all, there will be no major yaoi side couple in this story. As a matter of fact, the guys in Hetalia will not have any major parts in this. Vash (and possibly Russia in later chapters) will be the only guy in Hetalia that has a major role and that's simply due to his relation to Lili. (Don't get me wrong, I love the Hetalia guys, but this story is for yuri my friends, not yaoi.)**

** Secondly, I plan to feature as many of the Hetalia girls as possible. However, I want to be sure I'm not forgetting anyone. The ones I plan to have in the story (that you haven't seen yet) so far are Katyusha/Ukraine, Bella/Belgium, Chelle/Seychelles, Monica/Monaco, Mei/Taiwan, Vietnam (Name undecided; open to suggestions for names), and Wy (name undecided; open to suggestions for names). I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting someone, if so, plz tell me.**

** Lastly, BelaLiech is the only yuri couple in this story so far. Meaning I'm open to suggestions as to what other yuri couples you wanna see and I'll see what I can do. The only rule is that it has to be Hetalia yuri. **

** Anyway, thanks for reading, I hoped you enjoyed it. If I made any mistakes, plz tell me ****and remember, reviews are love. ^^**


	3. White Calla Lily

Lili stretched outside of the gym. It was Tuesday, the day of the cheer-leading tryouts. _At least I'm surrounded by a lot of familiar faces, _she though as she looked around.

There was Chelle, who was practicing her jumps, causing her pigtails to bounce around wildly. Her tank top had fish printed on it; while it was strange to anyone seeing her for the first time, it was a known fact about her love of fish and the ocean. The only other two who were practicing on their own were Mei and Lien, two Asian girls, one from Taiwan and the other from Vietnam.

Then there was Bella, Katyusha, and Elizaveta. They were helping out people who were a bit new to this whole thing, like her and a few others. They were the captains last year and no doubt would be this year. Granted, Katyusha's chest was rather... large- understatement of the century- but she could cheer just as good as anyone else, better even. Despite her, eh-hem, chest, she was quite nimble, skinny and tall. Next to her, Bella was a little shorter at about average height. She was skinny despite her eating a chocolate bar every five minutes. Overall, she was a nice, sisterly-type girl. She was known to pull small pranks, but nothing terrible.

The people that they were teaching were Natalya, dressed in a blue miniskirt with white tights underneath and a dark blue tank top, Cloe, a student from Wy who was wearing shorts,a pink hoodie and a side ponytail, and Monica, a girl from Monaco who was wearing a white blouse and dark red tights, a black bow where her side-braid began. As far as Lili could tell, they were doing fairly well.

Eventually the two coaches walked out of the gym. Ms. Amunet and Ms. Helena looked over the girls, taking a look at who was all there. Amunet was wearing a white T-shirt and khaki shorts. Her brown hair seemed to go into a type of cone shape with hair falling out at the end, only fully held together by 2 or 3 gold bracelets in her hair. Her skin was pale compared to that of Helena, who's skin was nice shade of tan brown. Her straight black hair stopped before reaching her neck. It wasn't exactly needed, but a small gold band went around her forehead, shining against her black hair. Her outfit was like that of Amunet's but with no collar, instead a gold necklace lay there, and her shorts were longer than Amunet's by an inch or two.

"Okay girls, we'll be calling you in by grade, starting with the seniors and working our way to the freshmen. You'll do a dance, a chant, a cheer, and show us three jumps, a pike, a hurkey, and a toe-touch. Am I going to fast for anyone?" Helena asked. Silence was the only answer that came off as a 'no' to those present. She nodded.

Amunet looked at the list of names on a clipboard and called out Katyusha's name. After she had raised her hand and said "coming," she jogged over, every step punctuated by the sound of her breasts. "This way please," Amunet said with a smile, seeming much more relaxed than Helena. She opened the door to the gym and the three stepped inside.

That's when the initial nervousness began to set in. Some decided to sit down and save their energy, while others decided to continue practicing, now that they knew what to practice. Lili sat on the grass in front of the gym and drank from a water bottle with water droplets running down the side. Natalya decided to take this opportunity to talk to her. She sat down next to the smaller girl and said a friendly 'hi' before taking a long drink from her own water bottle.

"Hi. I didn't expect to see you here. I didn't think you liked cheer-leading," Lili said.

Natalya shrugged. "I noticed I had a lot of extra time on my hands and my sister suggested it to me." In truth, Katyusha had been overjoyed when her sister had told her she wanted to join cheer-leading in order to try and make some new friends, which technically wasn't a total lie. Katyusha seemed ready to burst into happy tears when Natalya had asked for her help.

"Neat." Lili looked at Natalya's hair. "Nice bow. It's cute."

"Thanks," Natalya answered, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Your ribbon's cute too."

Lili laughed and smiled. "Thank you." She began to untie her ribbon. "How about I tie my ribbon in your hair and you tie your bow on my head so we can see what it looks like on each other?"

Natalya blinked. "Uh, sure." She untied the bow from her hair. It took every ounce of control she had to not blush to the point her face was as red as a rose when Lili was tying her purple ribbon in her hair. Lili pulled away and looked at her work carefully. The two barely heard Amulet return and call for Bella as Katyusha left the gym.

"Now you tie your bow in my hair," Lili said. She bent her head down to give Natalya a better view. Natalya seemed calm, but her hands shook just a bit and her heart was beating as if she had just ran five miles. Swallowing her nervousness she set to work on tying the bow in Lili's hair. As she tied it she couldn't help but think about how soft it was. _Like soft, golden feathers, _she thought. Part of her wished she had a comb just so she could brush her hair and run it through her fingers. She pushed the thought away as quickly as she could. Granted, it wasn't a bad thought, but it certainly wasn't helping her control the pink tint creeping onto her cheeks.

"There." She watched as the smaller girl lightly touched the bow in her hair. "You look nice," she said casually.

Lili smiled. "Thanks."

The two looked around and noticed Chelle walking out of the gym. _Wow. We were talking long enough for near everyone else to tryout? _Lili wondered. Amunet called for Lili. "Oh! Coming!" she called. She tried to undo the bow and give it back to Natalya, but the taller girl grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"You don't have time right now. I'll probably be called next anyway, so we'll just trade back once we're both done. It won't make a difference anyhow," she said.

Lili blushed slightly at the contact. "O-okay." She nodded and jogged towards the gym door. In a few minutes, Natalya did the same. The two coaches addressed all the girls in the gym once the last person was done.

"Okay. There will be more tryouts tomorrow and the day after. All those on the squad will have their names posted on the bulletin board on Friday. Saturday is our first practice where we will establish the captains, fit you for uniforms and establish some ground rules. Understood?" Helena asked. The girls nodded.

Amunet nodded and smiled. "Okay girls, have a nice day. I hope some of you show up tomorrow to help the others."

The girls slowly exited and went to their cars. Some lived close by and were walking home while others had car-pooled and were going home together.

"Did you finish your science homework yet?" Monica asked.

"I did!" Chelle said. "It was easy to me."

"That's because it was on aquatic ecosystems, Chelle, and nearly every girl here will testify that you probably live there," Bella teased. Chelle turned around and stuck her tongue at her.

"Hey Chelle, if you have the homework, can I borrow it?" Cloe asked. "My brother's stupid koala ate mine."

"Bet you can't get Mr. Thrash to buy that one," Elizaveta joked. "He still won't believe Katyusha lost her pencil when it accidentally fell down her shirt."

Katyusha laughed. "I remember that. I didn't get that pencil back till I got home. Hehe."

Cloe, Chelle, Monica, Katyusha, Bella and Elizaveta were all car-pooling home in Katyusha's van. Natalya had told her sister that she needed to get home and finish some home work to avoid having to join in on the car-pool, so she was walking home, same as Lili. Mei and Lien were driving home together.

The car-pool was the last to leave. Just before they could even start the car, though, Elizaveta noticed she had left her back-pack in the gym. "I'll be right back!" she said. She rushed back inside, only slowing at the door. She peeked in and saw her backpack right inside the door, just where she left it. Secondly, she saw Amunet and Helena making out on the table. She pulled out her camera silently and snapped one photo before rushing back to the car.

* * *

Amunet had been enjoying the kiss, up until Helena broke the kiss and looked at the door to the gym suspiciously. "Did you just hear a click?"

Amunet simply muttered a simple "it was nothing, I'm sure," before leaning in yet again to kiss the other woman. Helena shrugged before meeting her in the middle and starting the kiss again.

* * *

"What took you?" Chelle asked.

"Oh, nothing~" Elizaveta said.

Someone would have questioned further had not the car started and silenced them long enough for someone to want to change to subject to what they planned to do once they got home.

* * *

Lili and Natalya walked down the street and exchanged ribbons and bows again. "If you ever need one of my bows I can lend you one. I've got several."

"Well, then I'd have to get you a ribbon. Just to make it fair. I have a few more like this one, but this is the only purple one. It's my favorite because my brother bought it for me."

"So is purple your favorite color?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Just a guess," Natalya said evasively.

"Well here's my house," Lili said, stopping at the sidewalk that led to the front door. She turned to Natalya. "I liked talking with you. Maybe you should come over some time."

Natalya nodded. "I'd like that."

Lili walked to the door, turned around at the last step and waved goodbye. Natalya waved back before continuing to walk down the street.

She had talked with Lili more at the tryouts than she had all last week. If there was any doubt in her mind, it was gone now. If there was any way she could get closer to Lili, it was through cheer-leading. _Plus it is kinda fun, _she thought. _Now just to hope we both made it..._

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* * *

_

Wednesday and Thursday were just tense for the school. Some worried about getting into certain clubs and new classes while others panicked over if they were getting into football, band, softball, basketball, and cheer-leading. Finally Friday rolled around. The students waited patiently by the bulletin board near the end of seventh period and nearly crushed the teachers after they put up who would be on the team. Before they could crowd the bulletin board, however, Helena stepped up and said she would announce the names listed.

As names were called, some students whooped and danced (Alfred F. Jones when they announced he was quarterback of the football team), while others walked away dejected (Arthur Kirkland when the cooking class added a personal note saying that 'We are sorry, but while your academics are impeccable, you cannot cook! You would only be considered a good cook if the point was to burn everything and/or poison people!'). The last team called was the cheer-leading squad. Natalya had her fingers crossed, like many of the remaining girls there.

"The seniors in the cheer-leading squad are Katyusha, Elizaveta, Bella, and Anna Samantha Courtney. The juniors are Lien, Mei, and Sarah Lee. The sophomores are Cloe, Monica, and Ally. And finally the freshmen on the squad are Cammy, Chelle, Natalya, and Lili."

Some girls walked away with their heads down. The ones in "ASC's clique" as they were called congratulated Anna and the few others in her clique that made it. The rest of the girls high-fived each other or gave hugs; Katyusha hugged Elizaveta and Bella, Mei hugged Lien, Cloe hugged Monica and Lili hugged Natalya. Natalya couldn't help but blush deeper than ever.

"I'm so glad you made it!" Lili said when she finally let go.

"Yeah, I'm glad you made it too," Natalya said, looking away.

_ Oh, is she shy? Maybe I shouldn't have hugged her... I hope she didn't mind too much, _Lili thought. Before she could begin to apologize, though, the bell rang, and everyone in the halls scattered like ants after someone kicked their ant hill. _Well, it _is _Friday. I'll see her tomorrow at practice I guess._

She walked to the swings as always. All week it had been a purple gladiolus, but today it was different. Today, a white calla lily lay on the swing. The card said that the meaning was _'I want to be with you.' _It was underlined twice with purple ink. A little heart was drawn on the margin with the same purple ink.

* * *

**:( I am so sorry for the late update. Saturday I was busy with marching contest, and I stayed up late working on this, but I didn't finish it. I worked on it a bit before I left for church. But when I got home my sisters got me working on my science project which is due Tuesday. I is so sorry, please forgive me! T.T We have another contest this week. I'll try to have the next chapter up Friday, but with 9 weeks test, I make no promises. Again, I IS SO SORRY THAT I IS LATE. **sniffle** **

**To explain ASC's clique, well, this story needed some girlsto be the (pardon my language) bitchy chicks on the squad. Plus, after looking at the girls on high school cheer-leading squad, I felt I needed a few more girls. I chose ASC's name based on the three most annoyingly crazy girls at my school. 'Sarah Lee' was a name I heard at church and the other two were just random.**

**As far as Amunet and Helena go, I needed two characters to be the captains and suddenly these two came to mind. And in case you didn't notice, Amunet is Ancient Greece and Helena is Ancient Egypt. Sorry for throwing them in with no warning, but they were kind of a last minute addition I couldn't help but add. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. (Even though it was late.)**


	4. Pink Eucalyptus Part 1

Now, Katyusha wasn't the type of girl to be suspicious of people, especially not her own sister, but then suspicion wasn't quite the right word to describe what was forming in her head. No, now it was confusion with a hint of worry over her little sister.

She had had an inkling of suspicion when her sister had left the first day of school early. Natalya had told her that she simply wasn't feeling well, which Katyusha quickly believed and almost immediately had begun making her soup. She noticed that Natalya left early every morning, and even had watched her walk away from the window of her bedroom once. Katyusha noticed near immediately that she wasn't taking the usual path that led to the school, but she brushed it off, telling herself that her little sister was probably just going for a walk before school. When Natalya told her that she wanted to try out for cheer-leading, Katyusha was too overjoyed to be anything besides happy that her sister wanted to make friends.

The tiny inkling of suspicion had grown, but she had generally pushed it away. Katyusha didn't fully acknowledge it until one Friday evening, a few weeks after cheer-leading tryouts, when she had offered to cook dinner for her little brother Ivan. Before she left, she asked Natalya if she wanted to come with her. Now, Katyusha knew it was a bad idea, but she just had a little hope that maybe they could eat dinner together as a family, like they used to. She became generally worried when Natalya had said no to the offer.

"W-why? It's been a while since we've eaten together." You see, the Braginski children lived in different houses on the same hill. It was strange to some degree, but the town had seen stranger, so no one really bothered wondering why. They were once very close, but they had drifted apart.

"I'm busy. Lili, Chelle, Elizaveta and I are going shopping. The weather's starting to get a little colder, so we decided to all get some fall and winter clothes together. After that we're going to Lili's house to watch a movie."

"O-oh. Okay. Some other time then," she said and smiled at her sister. Natalya nodded and walked out the door.

Now at Ivan's house, she couldn't help but worry. There was nothing wrong with Natalya hanging out with other girls around her age, but to turn down a dinner with Ivan? Was it an improvement? Should Katyusha be worried? Ivan seemed to notice his older sister's lack of a smile as she cooked dinner.

"Has Natalya talked to you a lot lately?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"She's been acting... different lately. I don't know whether to be happy or worried little Vanya." Little Vanya was her and Natalya's nickname for their brother. The tall Russian was by no means little, but he had been as a child, so the name stuck even when he had grown much taller than his two sisters. Besides, Katyusha couldn't ignore that her little brother was childish; which, even though it made him come off as mentally cracked- something that may or may not be true, Katyusha hadn't quite figured that out yet-, it helped the name stick.

"Does she seem happy?" Ivan asked. While he was afraid of Natalya, she was still his sister, therefore, seeing Katyusha worried for her made him just a bit worried too.

"Well, yes, but... I don't know. It's probably nothing," she laughed nervously at her own foolishness as she once again pushed her suspicion away. "C'mon, let's eat."

* * *

A few towns away, Natalya, Chelle, Lili and Elizaveta were ready to shop to their hearts content. Lili was starting to get depressed that her admirer hadn't been sending any new flowers lately- for the past few weeks since the calla lily it had been blue rosemary flowers and occasionally another calla lily or gladiolus. They were still sweet, but truthfully she couldn't wait to see what flower they would send her next. On the bright side, the cards often had at least a sentence on them. Sometimes it was something simple and sweet such as '_I miss you'_, sometimes it was something encouraging on days when Lili had felt a little down like _'You can do it.'_,_ 'Keep trying.' _or _'Don't give up!'_. On some days it said things like _'You looked cute today.'_ or sometimes all that was on the card was a little purple heart.

_ Purple ink. Why always purple ink?, _she wondered.

All in all, the flowers made her happy, but she was beginning to lose hope of finding her admirer. She asked Elizaveta who said that she couldn't come up with anything. Which led her to her current situation, Natalya, Chelle, Elizaveta and herself, all walking into the mall.

All in all, Elizaveta had suggesting it saying that "there are three things that cheer any girl up, ice cream, chocolate, and shopping with her bff's, and since you're not depressed enough for stuffing yourself silly, shopping will work just fine. I'll invite Chelle and why don't you invite someone too?"

The first person Lili had called was Natalya. She was a nice, independent girl who didn't seem to care what most people thought of her. She even said once that she only cared about the opinions of those that she herselfcared about, then once Lili asked she replied truthfully, first listing off her sister and brother and then listing Lili as the people who's opinions she actually cared about. She had blushed at that, and was glad that Natalya couldn't see her face over the phone.

Anyway, back to the current situation, here they were, standing in front of the mall. Walking in they wondered where to start.

"I say we start with picking out a movie to watch once we get back home," Elizaveta said.

"Okay, and after that why don't we work on getting some clothes-" Lili began.

"And then move on accessories?" Natalya suggested.

"Sounds great! After that why don't we stop by the food court for snacks?" Chelle added in.

"Perfect! Now let's go!" Elizaveta said cheerfully before walking into the mall, quickly followed by the others, who were laughing, well, except Natalya, but she still smiled.

Their first task was simple, right? Just pick out a movie and move on. Turns out, it was not so simple. Elizaveta wanted a yaoi movie, Chelle wanted an underwater documentary, Lili wanted a romance and Natalya suggested a Disney movie- in her defense, it was the first thing that came to mind. She wanted to agree with Lili, but somehow it seemed like that would just complicate things further. They had a coin toss with Elizaveta vs. Lili and Chelle vs. Natalya. Elizaveta and Natalya won. One more coin toss would decide what movie they would watch. Chelle tossed the coin, caught it and then flipped in onto her wrist.

"Heads. Natalya wins. Runner-up gets to decide exactly what movie, but it has to be the chosen genre of the winner," Chelle announced.

"Hey, don't call me a runner-up. It was just a coin toss," Elizaveta said defensively. "Besides, Disney isn't a genre."

"Just pick a movie so we can move on. We've already killed half an hour," Chelle informed her.

"We spent half an hour picking a movie?" Lili asked.

Natalya shrugged slightly. "Time flies."

Elizaveta looked at the movies for a bit before picking up one at random and walking towards the counter.

"Where to next?" Lili asked as they walked out of the store.

"Time to get a fall and winter wardrobe!" Chelle proclaimed.

"I can't wait to dress you up in some of the cutest outfits~!" Elizaveta said.

"What are you talking about?" Natalya asked.

"Every time we go shopping Elizaveta buys at least two outfits of her choice for me and Chelle," Lili explained.

"And since you're with us, I'll pick one out for you too!" Elizaveta said.

"Fine," Natalya said. "But I'm not wearing anything pink."

"Deal!"

They walked into the store and immediately split up to search on their own clothes, agreeing to meet up at the dressing rooms in 15 minutes. And about fifteen minutes later they all arrived carrying their chosen outfits.

Lily had two outfits- a thicker and longer version of her usual dress with a pair of white stockings and a pair of jeans with a turtle-neck that had the Liechtenstein flag on it (the store had started supplying t-shirts with flags on them once the owner realized that the people who shopped there seemed to be from all over the world, literally). Chelle and Natalya did something similar, the first outfit being a thicker version of their usual clothes and the second being a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with their home country flag on it. Elizaveta had this, plus three extra outfits which she handed to the girls.

"Try these on first, okay?" she said, pushing them into the dressing room before the three girls even had a chance to examine the outfits.

Natalya looked over what she had been handed. It was a dress with varying shades of green that stopped below her knees. _At least there's no pink. _

Once she was done zipping up the dress in the back, Elizaveta was handing her accessories under the door. "You work quick, don't you?" she asked.

"Practice," Elizaveta said.

Natalya sighed before removing her white bow and tying the green bow in her hair. Slipping off her shoes she slid into a pair of dark green stockings and green slippers. She looked in the mirror before stepping out of the dressing room. "What do you-" she said, but paused once she saw Lili. "-think?" she finished meekly.

Lili was dressed in a black skirt and red stockings, black slippers, and a black and red plaid shirt. She was tying a red ribbon in her hair. She looked up at Natalya and smiled. "You look nice."

"T-thank you. You look lovely."

"You think so? Red's not quite my usual color, but Elizaveta can make any color look beautiful on someone," she said. Lili was blushing and twirling a lock of blonde hair between her fingers. Natalya blushed even deeper. _So cute~!_

Chelle stepped out of the dressing room and starting talking to Lili luckily. She was wearing a peach dress with crisscrossing orange stripes. An orange scrunchie created a side-ponytail in her brown hair and she was slipping on orange slippers as she talked to Lili.

Elizaveta surveyed her work, a continuous grin on her face. She snapped several pictures of the three just standing there. Before asking Chelle to move and taking a few pictures of just Lili and Natalya. "I'll be sure to send you these as soon as I can." She snapped a few solo pictures before placing her camera in her purse. "Why don't you get changed out of those now so we can move on? I only grabbed accessories that went with your dresses, so we still need to do that."

The girls undressed, got back into their regular clothes, and, clothes in tow, walked to the accessories area of the store. Chelle and Elizaveta went to look at the shoes, leaving Lili and Natalya to look at ribbons and bows.

Lili sat in front of a mirror and looked at how each ribbon looked against her hair. Natalya watched before grabbing a purple bow and walking over to the mirror. "Here. Try this on," she said. She began tying to bow in Lili's hair. "Do you have a hair brush?"

Lili nodded before taking a small one out of her purse and handing it to her. Natalya tied the bow in her hair and ran the brush through it. Did Lili's hair need to be brushed for this? No. Natalya would easily bet that there wasn't even a single hair out of place. But still, she wanted to brush it, and when would she get a better opportunity than this?

She barely heard the small click of a camera as footsteps approached. Normally, she would think nothing of it, and simply assume it was Elizaveta and Chelle. Only when she heard _it_, did she think to look up.

"_Oh my god! _I can't believe they let people like _you_ on the squad. All lesbians should just burn in hell!"

* * *

**I is sorry for the late update again! (On the bright side, our band got a 1 and will be going to state contest!) So this is a part 1 and part 2 chapter. Part 2 will be up as soon as I can get it up.**

**I hope no one minds that I had Natalya say Disney movie. I dunno, I wanted them to watch one so meh.**

**I hope this came out well, I really did try, but it IS late and I am tired. Plz know I do lose sleep over this, just to get it up for you guys. I woke up around 5 AM for band contest! It's about 3 AM now!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.**

**[EDIT]**

**My sis drew the dresses for me. The link is below (remove the spaces):**

**Belarus's dress: ht tp: / analove12. deviantart. com/ gallery/ #/ d30wkww**

**Lili's outfit: ht tp: / analove12. deviantart. com/ gallery/ #/ d30wlfk**

**Chelle's dress: ht tp: / analove12. deviantart. com/ gallery/ #/ d30wl7d**

**Don't forget to comment and thank my awesome sis for doing this for me! :3**


	5. Pink Eucalyptus Part 2

Natalya instantly glared. There stood Anna Samantha Courtney, Sarah Lee, Ally and Cammy. ASC laughed haughtily, soon echoed by the three girls around her. Natalya set the brush down and walked over to the clique.

"We're on the squad because we earned it. It has nothing to do with our personal lives, and for that you should be grateful. If the coached knew what a bitch you are to all of us, you wouldn't be on the squad and you know it," Natalya said, avoiding the lesbian comment entirely.

However, ASC was not going to let it go. She ignored Natalya and simply continued talking. "I always knew you were crazy, but I never knew you were gay too. Oh wait, that's right, you can't be gay. You stalk you brother on a daily basis."

"I don't stalk him anymore and I'm not crazy. Truthfully, either of those sound better than whoring myself out to every guy at school. You're the reason most of them _are _gay."

Lili poked out from behind Natalya. "The couches wouldn't get someone off the squad just because they're gay. Ms. Amunet and Ms. Helena are gay with each other anyway."

Four pink bubble gum bubbles popped while still in the four girls' mouths. "What?" ASC asked.

Lili nodded. "Elizaveta even has a picture. Apparently it's common knowledge amongst the teachers, so it's just a matter of time before the students find out." Elizaveta had told Lili the day after tryouts. Lili was shocked, but it made sense. And they seemed happy, so she wasn't going to ask questions.

"S-still. You're both lesbians that should burn in hell," ASC said, but her confidence was gone and her 'clones' were backing away slowly. ASC spun on her heel and walked off, a trail of three other blonde-highlighted, gum-chewing, bubble-blowing pricks following her,

Lili sat back down on the stool and began adjusting the bow on her head. Natalya stood behind her. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Lili nodded slowly. The two were silent for a moment before Lili spoke meekly. "Why are they so mean to everyone?"

Natalya crouched down and hugged her. "You shouldn't care what they think. It doesn't matter."

Lili sniffled, fighting back tears. "Fine. What do you think of it? People being gay I mean."

"People should follow their hearts, despite who they love, because in the end it really isn't their choice," she said solemnly. She of all people knew that from experience.

"What was she talking about with your brother?" Lili asked, mentally praying that what Natalya had just said was not her referring to her brother.

Natalya knew she had to face that question at some point. She pulled away from the hug and looked into Lili's eyes. "I used to love my brother. The 'I wanted to marry him' type of love. I'm over that now. Understand?"

Lili looked into Natalya's eyes, a deep dark blue, like the night sky on a full moon. Lili decided she liked that color, but later wouldn't quite remember why exactly. But right now, looking into those determined eyes, she couldn't bring herself to care about the rest of the world at all.

* * *

Elizaveta and Chelle had seen ASC's clique, but Elizaveta held Chelle back from doing anything. She took a photo just before the clique interrupted the moment. The two sat back and watched. Elizaveta whispered, "We'll step in if we have to, but right now Lili needs to see exactly how bad these people can be."

Once it was over, Elizaveta watched and snapped several more photos; three of the hug and two of the moments Lili was staring at Natalya's eyes. Finally the two 'arrived' once Lili and Natalya pulled away.

"You okay? We saw ASC," Chelle said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. C'mon, let's check out and get something to eat," Lili said happily, nothing showing that she had been near tears only moments ago.

"Great! I'm hungry," Elizaveta said. _I'll tell Lili about the pictures later,_ she thought.

* * *

The four walked out of the mall, random food items and shopping bags in hand. Elizaveta hopped into the driver's seat, Chelle called shot-gun, and Lili and Natalya sat side-by-side behind the two. "Hey, Lili, why don't you check out the pictures on my camera, the ones for today. I wanna know what you think," Elizaveta said.

Lili buckled up and took the camera. She flipped through the photos of the three freshmen in their dresses. She stopped when she reached the first picture of Natalya and herself posing in their dresses. _I'll have to ask her to print some of these so I can add them to my scrapbook. _

Because the flowers had started to wilt, and she wanted a place to put the cards, Lili bought a scrapbook to record all the flowers in. She also wrote small diary entries and slipped them into the book. All in all it became a diary/scrapbook for her.

When Lili noticed that the pictures of her and Natalya in the bows and ribbons section, she wasn't that surprised. _If anyone would do something like that it was Elizaveta. _Natalya leaned over and looked at the screen on the camera. It was of Lili looking into her eyes.

"When did you take this?" she asked.

"I saw you two like that so I took a picture just before you pulled away," Elizaveta said, her eyes never leaving the road. Natalya nodded, accepting the answer.

"When can you print some of these?" Lili asked.

"If you have a printer at your house, I can just hook my camera up to your computer and print them," she said.

"Okay," Lili said.

"Hey," Chelle said, "what movie did we get anyway?"

"I dunno. Our shopping bags are in the back, could one of you reach back there and grab it?"

Lili unbuckled her seat-belt and bent down over the seat to reach the smallest bag, which had fallen on the floor. She sat back down after a moment and pulled the movie out of the white plastic bag with the shop's logo on the front.

"You picked '_Robin Hood.'_" Lili announced.

"Aw~ I was hoping you at least picked the _'The Little Mermaid' _or _'The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea' _or something," Chelle said.

"You just wanna see _'The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea'_ because you practically fell in love with Melody. When the school did that as a play you nearly killed someone to get the part as Melody," Elizaveta said. Chelle stuck her tongue out at the senior, not caring that Elizaveta wasn't even looking.

"We have both those movies at home if you wanna watch those after this one," Lili said.

"Why don't we just stay the night? None of us live that far away anyway, so it'd only take a bit for us to grab a our pajamas and drop these clothes off," Elizaveta suggested.

"We could totally have it in Lili's basement! It's perfect for watching movies, plus it would only take a few inflatable mattresses, and some blankets and pillows to sleep there, all of which are found in the closet down there," Chelle said.

"Vash isn't home tonight, so all I have to do is call him and ask if it's fine by him," Lili added. She pulled out her phone and called her brother. Beside her, Natalya couldn't believe that she was about to spend the night at Lili's house- because really why would Vash say no?

"Hey, brother?" Lili said once Vash picked up the phone.

"Hey Lili. What is it? You usually don't call when I'm away. Is something wrong?" he asked, worry edging into his voice.

"No, everything's fine. I was just calling to ask if some friends could stay the night."

Vash gave a small sigh of relief that nothing was wrong and assumed it was just Elizaveta and Chelle who would be staying the night. "Sure, just don't eat all the food in the house and don't stay up all night."

"Okay, bye brother," Lili said before hanging up. "He said yes."

"Slumber party it is then!" Elizaveta said happily as she pulled into Lili's driveway. The girls hopped out of the car, and while Lili went inside to put her new clothes in her room, prepare the basement and get some food ready, the other three girls quickly went home to get their pajamas and other things they might need.

Natalya rushed to her room, dropped her new clothes on the bed and began looking for some pajamas that would do. She pulled out a white night gown, but decided against it. Looking through the drawer more she saw a dark blue pair of fluffy pajama pants. _Perfect. Now just to find a top to go with it. _She looked through the drawer and eventually found a pajama tank top that was made to not be worn with a bra, but it was white with dark blue stripes. _It'll do. Now just to pack everything else._

Fifteen minutes later she was walking to Lili's house, back-pack over her shoulder filled with her hair bow, pajamas, a change of clothes, plus her cellphone and it's charger. She walked into Lili's house and found Chelle and Elizaveta unpacking in the basement. The floor was covered with inflatable mattresses- literally, you couldn't see the floor- that cushioned every step.

"How'd you do this so quickly?" Natalya asked Lili, who was pulling blankets and pillows out of a closet.

"The mattresses are always like this because I like sleeping down here, so it was just easy to leave them like this all the time," Lili said. She was wearing purple pajama pants and a pink tank top.

Elizaveta finished unpacking and picked up her pajamas. "You don't mind if I change right here, do you?" she asked.

"Not at all, go ahead." Lili said, not even looking out of the closet.

Natalya just set her backpack down and took out her own pajamas before walking upstairs. She had seen a bathroom when she walked in and she preferred to change there rather than in front of Lili. Once that was done she walked back downstairs and found the lights out, making the room pitch-black dark. While there was a small window at the top of one wall, no light was coming in through it at 8 o'clock PM.

The other girls were sitting on a mattress that one extra stacked on top of it. The TV was an HD flat-screen that hung on the wall. The DVD/CD player was just inside the wall, seen but not taking up any space on the floor. The DVD was already playing, but it was just old previews. Natalya sat next to Lili, who had a bowl of popcorn on her lap. Chelle sat on Lili's left, wearing light blue pajama shorts and t-shirt. Elizaveta sat on the end in orange pajama pants and a peach colored shirt.

Finally the movie began with the book pages telling of Robin Hood being the people's only hope before it moved to zoom in on the rooster with an old string instrument. Natalya inched closer to Lili just slightly. Then the animals ran across the screen as the opening credits went past, then finally the opening credits stopped and the rooster was sitting on the _O_ of_ Once_. The four girls were quiet as the movie began, suddenly very absorbed in it. It was an old movie, yes, but still, a movie is a movie and at some point in a movie, if it's any good at all, you forget that you're actually watching a movie.

They laughed at some points, hummed or sang along to the songs at others, and maybe even once or twice stood at the edge of their seat/mattress. At the end of it, they realized that the popcorn was gone and that it was around 9:30 PM. Not wanted to fall asleep right then and there, Elizaveta put a CD in the DVD/CD player and Chelle turned on the lights.

For the next few hours, they bounced on the mattresses and sang to all the songs they liked. Occasionally they stopped to eat, or just simply rest. Around 12:30 AM, they were actually tired.

"Should we just go to sleep now?" Chelle asked sleepily.

"Sure," Elizaveta said with a yawn.

"I'll cut the lights," Lili said. She stood over walked over to the stairs and flipped the light switch at the bottom of the stairs.

Natalya was exhausted. She laid down and pulled a blanket close to her. She wasn't alone. Lili was sleepy as well and laid down next to Natalya.

Lili barely registered when she had curled up to Natalya. Natalya smiled at it, but she too didn't realize the other girl's presence fully before falling asleep. All Natalya fully remembered was being happier than she'd been in a long time. For now, that was all she wanted.

* * *

**I hope you liked it. It's not the end; there's a part 3 (I can't end it without Natalya giving Lili a eucalyptus flower, so meh.) Anyway, I hope you liked it. Also I hope it's not getting too sappy. Is it? Hope not. If so, I promise I'll do better on the next part. **

**By the way, I never did say what couples other than BelaLiech and AncientGreeceXAncientEgypt would be in here, or at least might be in here. I still dunno how I'm gonna work some of them in, but I assure you I will.**

**TaiwanXVietnam and WyXMonoco**

**I don't know how I'll pair Ukraine, Belgium, Seychelles, and Hungary. I've had two people suggest Ukraine with Belgium or Hungary and no one had suggested a pairing for Seychelles I don't think. C'mon people, help me out here. I really want to do something with these characters, and I will, but I need you guys to tell me who you want to see them with.**

**Anyway, plz review and tell me what you thought of it. ^^**


	6. Pink Eucalyptus Part 3

Saturday morning proved to be a windy day for the town of St. Hetalia. The sun did nothing to take the chill off the wind, as it was hidden behind flat, gray clouds just like the rest of the sky. Most residents stayed inside as much as they could. Who wouldn't with the wind threatening to blow away anything it could?

Vash was one of the few poor people stuck with walking home in such weather. The only bright side was that the Scandinavian cafe was having a discount on hot chocolate. Steam floated out of the white cup he clutched before it was whisked out of sight by the wind. The little white marsh mellows that floated in the hot chocolate were slowly melting away.

So, hot chocolate in one hand, the other holding his white hat, he made his way up the driveway to his and his sister's house. Taking off his hat and holding it with his left, the same hand that held to hot chocolate, he turned the brass door knob on the front door. Almost immediately the door swung open due to the wind. Vash hoped the sound didn't wake anyone before walking in and forcing the door shut.

Finally able to relax, he took a gulp of his hot chocolate before walking into the living room. Tossing his hat on the couch, he walked downstairs to the basement. He knew Lili was there, and, being the protective brother he is, wanted to check up on her.

The basement was dark, but the light seeping in through the window was enough for him to look at the girls in the basement. Elizaveta was sprawled out on her back on one mattress, while Chelle was curled up and hugging her fish pillow on another. Vash noticed all this in a matter of seconds because once he saw Lili, all else was forgotten.

Lili lay there, holding Natalya close, and Natalya holding Lili. Neither was awake however, so they failed to realize what position they were in. The first two things that Vash wanted to do were reach for his pistol he had with him or run back upstairs and get his shotgun. Before he could do either, he realized that doing so would wake Lili. This little insight stopped him from doing anything rash, so he stopped and thought about what he could do.

Option one, the rational one, was wake up Lili and ask her what happened and why was the crazy girl from down the street here. It wouldn't hurt anyone, the only one who would be woken up was Lili, and she probably wouldn't mind. Option two, the hardest one, was just walk away like he'd never seen anything. No one would wake up and be annoyed, but he would leave with too many questions in his head. Option three, the 'bad' one, was grab Natalya by the hair and drag her outside. She would be gone, but it might make Lili upset.

With a sigh, he went for option two, deciding to just wait for when they did wake up. He forced his feet to walk up the stairs and try to not shoot something. _Don't reach for the gun, Vash. Just don't reach for the gun. Just keep walking and don't reach for gun._

_

* * *

_

Elizaveta was the first of the girls to wake up. She stretched out, sat up and yawned in an attempt to fully wake up. She then looked at the other girls and smiled at the cuteness of it. Elizaveta reached for her camera and took a few pictures, thankful that the light coming from the small window fell across the four of them. Deciding to wait for the others to wake up, she pulled a yaoi manga out of her backpack as well as a box of tissues and began reading.

* * *

Slowly the light from the window woke Lili and her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she noticed was that she felt warm. _Strange. It's usually cold in the morning, especially this time of year._ Then she noticed she was had her arms around someone, and they in turn had their arms around her. She looked up just barely and saw Natalya. A deep blush came across her face almost immediately. _Should I just go back to sleep and act like I didn't notice? Or should I move before she wakes up? If she sees this what will she think? Maybe she'll be disgusted and not want to talk to me? Ugh! What am I supposed to do?_ She sighed mentally and decided to just to fall back asleep. _It _is_ warm... Just five more minutes..._

_

* * *

_

Natalya woke up slowly and realized that she was holding Lili. Looked down at the smaller girl, she fought the urge to smile at the cuteness. Slowly and reluctantly she removed Lili's arms from around her. She sat up and slowly pushed her away. Elizaveta looked up from her book, two tissues stuffed up her nose.

"Oh, you're awake," she said.

Natalya yawned. "What time is it?"

"About 10:30. Think we should wake them up?"

"Not yet. We don't have practice today anyway."

"Too cute?" Elizaveta asked, a sly grin on her face.

"...yeah," Natalya admitted reluctantly.

Before they could say more, Lili yawned and sat up. Rubbing her eyes she looked at Elizaveta and Natalya. "Good morning, Elizaveta, Natalya."

"Good morning," Elizaveta replied, putting a bookmark in her manga and putting it away.

Natalya nodded. "Good morning. Should we wake Chelle and have breakfast or wait?"

"You two go upstairs and work on breakfast. I'll work on waking Chelle," Elizaveta said.

Lili hopped up, skipped over to Natalya and grabbed her hand before dragging her upstairs. "C'mon, I'll show you where the kitchen is and where we keep everything." Natalya just blushed and nodded, making no protest to being dragged or having her hand held.

Once in the kitchen, Lili began showing Natalya where everything was kept. The paper plates and bowls, the glass ones, the plastic cups, the glass ones, the forks, spoons and knives, the cereal, the bread, and such like that. At some point, Vash had walked in the kitchen. He stood there, arms crossed over his chest.

"So anyway, what do you want for breakfast- oh! Hi there big brother," Lili said.

"Hi Lili. Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure, one sec." Turning to Natalya she said, "Just get whatever you want, Elizaveta and Chelle should be up any second to make their own, so if you're having any troubles just ask them. They've been here before, so they know how things work." With that, she walked with her brother to the living room.

Vash closed the door to the kitchen and looked at Lili. "What is she doing here?" he asked.

"She stayed the night. You said some friends could stay the night."

"Yes, but I thought you were just talking about Elizaveta and Chelle. You didn't mention her. She's-..." Vash paused, unsure if he should continue.

"What? Crazy? She's really nice brother." When Vash showed no signs of relaxing, she put on the cutest face she could. "Trust me, please?"

Vash sighed, "Fine. Now go on and eat breakfast. I'll be upstairs if you need me."

Lili hugged him. "Thank you!" She let go and skipped back into the kitchen.

* * *

In the kitchen, Elizaveta, Chelle and Natalya were working on blueberry pancakes. Chelle was stirring the batter, Natalya was helping in gathering ingredients and and Elizaveta was using her frying pan to cook them. Lili walked in and took in the scene before grabbing a frying pan and helping Elizaveta with cooking. Half an hour later they were eating blueberry pancakes while talking about whatever came to mind.

"Hey, Elizaveta, what practices to we have this week?" Chelle asked before eating yet another piece of pancake.

"We have one Monday, and another on Thursday," Elizaveta replied.

"Oh, really? I thought we had one today," Lili said.

"Normally we would, but the band is practicing that day and a few of the squad are in band. Ms. Amunet and Ms. Helena don't want to stand in their way," Elizaveta said with a shrug.

"It is nice of them though," Natalya commented.

"Please, they just flip a coin whenever something like that happens. This time the band director won, so meh," Chelle said.

"I'm personally glad they lost that one," Elizaveta said, taking another bite of pancake.

"Ooo~ Why?" Chelle asked. "You usually don't have any other plans on Saturday night besides following boys around with your camera. Your schedule is usually clear today."

Elizaveta blushed and looked down sheepishly. "W-well if you must know... I've got a date. Kiku thinks I need to date more, so he's setting up a blind date for me."

"You have to call us after the date! Tell us all the details!" Chelle said, obviously excited.

"Yeah! We'll want to know how it went," Lili said, happy for her friend.

"I'll call you as soon as I can, I promise," Elizaveta said, laughing.

"If you have a date later, you should probably head home soon. It's almost noon," Natalya said.

"Yeah, we probably all should go now," Elizaveta said. She stood and carried her plate to the sink in the kitchen, soon followed by Natalya, Chelle and Lili.

"Just leave it in the sink; I'll wash it later," Lili said. She was answered by nods and the clicks and clanks of plates dropping into a sink.

The three girls dressed in their usual clothes and, one by one, headed home. Natalya was the last to leave. She stood at the door, saying good-bye to Lili. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said.

Natalya nodded. "Yeah, bye..." She gulped and hesitantly gave Lili one small, quick hug before turning on her heel and stiffly walking away. Elizaveta, who had been standing at the end of the sidewalk, was able to snap one shot of it, before she too began walking away.

_ Enough photos for now, girl. You've got a date to prepare for... Crap, I don't even know if I should go casual or formal! Calm down. Just call Kiku to help you. It'll be fine... _she thought. _I wonder who he got anyway. Is he tall? Short? Thin? Fat? Ho- NO! Stop trying to picture them. Just focus on the task at hand: go home and get dressed!_

Had Elizaveta thought about all the information she knows on the guys living St. Hetalia, she would have at the very least known a hint about her blind date. But now was one of those moments when the most important information is pushed aside, only to dawn on us when it is suddenly all too clear and the information is no longer needed. Like teachers saying the answer to a question before you finished figuring out the answer. All in all, Elizaveta could find the answer, but right now the important thing on her mind was what dress went with what shoes and why Kiku was not at her house yet when she needed to know what to wear.

* * *

Natalya went home. Before she could even begin cleaning her room, as it had become a disaster area in her frantic search for suitable pajamas the night before, her sister called, and for once she wasn't crying about something.

"Natalya, can you help me pick out an outfit? The nice Japanese boy down the street asked me if I wanted to go on a blind date with someone. I said yes, but now I have no idea what to wear. I can't find something that makes my chest seem any.. any..."

"I'll be right over," Natalya said before hanging up. Now, she _could_ have told her sister that she was going to be on a date with Elizaveta... but she figured it was called a _blind date_ for a reason. Sighing at the state of her room, she resolved to clean it later and then rushed over next door to help her sister. Finding something that took the attention away from her, uh, chest, would _not_ be easy.

* * *

Kiku pulled out a little black dress and handed it to Elizaveta. "Too revealing, Elizaveta-san?"

"No. Do you think it's too formal?" she asked.

"Not at all. You'll be dining at a high class restaurant, so you'll fit right in," Kiku said.

"I hope so... Can you tell me anything about my date?" she asked desperately

Kiku just smiled at her reassuringly. "You'll have fun, Elizaveta-san. Trust me," said the master matchmaker's apprentice.

* * *

**Okay, so obviously I decided to pair with Hungary with Ukraine. Hope you like it. I felt so happy when writing this. Heads-up: the fluffiness will end near the end of part 4. As much as I love fluff, there needs to be plot too. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this part. Hopefully this whole parts of chapters thing won't happen again. I'm sure you loved it with more to read and all, but I just can't work this quickly during a school week. By all means, during winter break I'll dish out chapters like 2 a week or more if I feel like it, but during a school I have other things to do (homework, band practices, ect..).**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews are love~**


	7. Pink Eucalyptus Part 4

Elizaveta was spilling all of the details of the date to her two friends over the phone. To her the date had been lovely. She said they had even been talking about a second date by the time they said goodbye. Her face was an endless smile, a constant blush spread across her cheeks as she recounted it all.

* * *

She had shown up at the restaurant at 6:00. Sitting there in a little black dress with a dark red rose where her usual orange flowers were. Her hair was down and wavy. She had wanted to put it in a bun or at least a stylish ponytail, but Kiku insisted she wear it down. Now she sat there, waiting anxiously for her date. She looked out the window at the lights in the city. It was a busy city several miles away from St. Hetalia, but not too far that going there required a lot of effort. It wasn't what she was used to. She couldn't even see any trees or stars. But, even so, she had to admit the lights were beautiful at night.

Caught up in all this, she didn't notice a tall girl with a large chest walk in. She wore a dark red silk dress that opened up at the waist, and billowed in the wind before she stepped inside the restaurant. Only did Elizaveta look up when she heard a familiar voice.

"Hello Elizaveta. I didn't expect to see you here," Katyusha said. Elizaveta felt a blush creep onto her face, something that seemed to only happen when she was taking photos of or reading yaoi.

"Hey Katyusha. A-are you my blind date?"

Katyusha laughed nervously. "Y-yeah. It seems so." She gulped before continuing. "If this is uncomfortable for you, I could just-"

"N-no. Not at all. Sit. The food here sounds delicious," Elizaveta said quickly. Suddenly realizing her stammering and not quite remembering when she had ever done so, she fought to keep her voice under control.

So Katyusha sat down and the two talked. They had known each other for a long time, but they had never really gone out of their way to talk to each other alone. Katyusha never knew Elizaveta took so many pictures. She only thought that Elizaveta took pictures of yaoi. Elizaveta never realized that Katyusha seemed lonely. She was nice, but she didn't really talk to many people other than her brother and sister.

They drove home in Katyusha's car. Kiku had dropped Elizaveta off. At the time she had wondered why, but now she was thankful he did. They held hands until they reached the car, and after an argument over who should drive, the two let go and Elizaveta let Katyusha take the wheel.

Elizaveta decided that she really liked Katyusha. She walked her to her doorstep around 9 o'clock.

"I really enjoyed this date, Katyusha. W-we should go out again sometime," Elizaveta said.

Katyusha blushed. "Sure. I'd like that."

Right then, Elizaveta gathered all her courage and hugged the taller girl. Her chest was soft, but Elizaveta didn't bother noticing it. Katyusha blushed even deeper and gave Elizaveta a small kiss on the forehead. The two pulled away from each other eventually and said goodbye.

Once inside, Elizaveta leaned against the door and fell to the floor slowly, as her legs had gone weak. Her face a deep red, all she felt was pure bliss.

* * *

Eventually, she called Lili and Chelle. The two were overjoyed that Elizaveta was happy, and for that matter, that Katyusha was finally dating someone good. In the past, the few guys she had dated had just been perverts who just wanted her chest.

As she hung up the phone, Lili couldn't help but wonder sadly if she would ever share a date like that with her admirer. _I can only hope so, _she thought.

* * *

Not so far away, Katyusha was recounting the date to Natalya. Katyusha sat in bed, clad in pajama pants and a long t-shirt. She was happier than Natalya had seen her in a long time.

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun," Natalya said.

"Is there anyone you like? I-I mean if it's too personal a question, you don't have to answer."

"It's fine. Besides, we're sisters," Natalya said. Katyusha seemed surprised them smiled softly.

"Yeah. Sisters."

"Anyway, I do like this one.. girl. She's really nice to me. We've met before, but she doesn't remember," Natalya said somewhat sadly.

Katyusha smiled. "Just keep her close. She's bound to remember eventually. And even if she doesn't, try to win her affection anyway. You shouldn't wait too long; Lili's a smart girl."

"Wait. How did you know it was Lili?"

Katyusha smiled. "I just looked to see what had changed between now and back in the summer. The only thing that stuck out was her. I think it's nice you like someone."

Natalya smiled and pulled her sister into a hug. "Thanks." _Sometimes I forget that we're sisters. We should talk like this more often._

_

* * *

_

The day of practice was another windy day. The cheerleaders were inside the gym practicing their routine. All was going well. Not too many mistakes and no injuries. That was where the good news ended. Anna kept pestering Elizaveta and Katyusha about their relationship as soon as the coaches had their backs turned. Her 'clones' did the same, but only ever echoing what ASC had already said. Elizaveta was unfazed, but everyone knew how tenderhearted Katyusha was. She was close to tears, but trying to be strong.

Then they finally did the whole routine near the end of practice. It ended with three girls being lifted by three others with one extra there as back-up in case the one in the middle fell. Two were lifted about the same height, while the middle was lifted higher than the rest, which is why an extra was needed.. Lili was the one of the smallest girls on the squad, therefore, was being lifted. Cammy was smaller and was being lifted the highest, but Lili didn't really seem to mind. While Katyusha, Elizaveta, and Lien lifted Cammy with Mei as the extra, ASC, Natalya, and Monica lifted Lili. Natalya could tell something was off as soon as ASC took the left instead of the back or right which she usually did. The left was usually Natalya's spot, but as she got into position in time with the music, she brushed it aside. Lili walked/danced over to the three and they all cupped their hands and picked her up off the floor and into the air.

Usually Lili was fine with the lift. She didn't shake, wasn't afraid of heights and had no problem with it. Natalya saw it all in slow-motion. She saw ASC's arm lower before the other two's did. She saw Lili's leg shake before she fell to the left head-first. Natalya moved to catch her, but only caught her body inches off the floor. Her head hit the floor with a loud, echoing bang.

Suddenly time began to move again. The others had stopped and were rushing to see what was wrong. The coaches were the first there with ice-packs and a medical kits. Natalya let them take Lili, but she truly felt afraid. Lili hadn't opened her eyes since she fell. Was she just unconscious? Was is something worse? Natalya was more afraid than she'd ever been.

Then she looked up and saw ASC with the slightest of smirks on her face. Hate surged through her. _First she mocks my sister, now she hurts Lili? I'll- I'll-_ she thought, but her thoughts were interrupted by a hand on her shoulder. It was her sister.

"The coaches are driving Lili to the hospital and we have contacted her brother. Almost all of us are going to wait in the waiting room. Are you coming?" Katyusha asked.

Natalya was on her feet immediately and walking towards Katyusha's car.

Soon the waiting room of the nearest hospital was filled with nine worried cheerleaders. ASC's clique decided not to come, but no one was complaining.

* * *

ASC was plotting with her clique as she drove them home. "I will break them up. First we need to separate Lili and Natalya," she said.

Cammy looked up at her with bright blue eyes. "Why? I mean- how?"

"We can't get Natalya to back off, so we'll convince Lili that Natalya hates her," Anna said.

"What does that have to do with dropping her today?" Sarah Lee said.

"Wasn't that a bit low?" Ally asked.

"No, it wasn't low, and just wait and see. Just follow my lead and it'll work," ASC said.

"Um... why are we doing this again?" Cammy asked, tossing a desperate look at Ally.

"Because," ASC said, her eyes never leaving the road, "all gays should burn in hell."

"R-right," Cammy said, looking down at her heels. She missed her tennis shoes. For that matter, she missed her glasses and red hair and freckles. Now her freckles were hidden under too much make-up, her red hair was hidden under blonde dye that had to be put in every night, she wore contacts that she hated and her tennis shoes were only worn during practice. _Why am I doing this again? Oh yeah, I wanted to be with Ally, and I could only do that by joining ASC's clique. I hope it's worth it._

_

* * *

_

When Lili woke up, the first thing she noticed was not her hospital bed or her brother asleep on the coach next to her. The first thing she noticed was a nurse placing a vase next to her bed. There were four flowers, a light blue rosemary, a purple gladiolus, a white calla lily, and a pink eucalyptus flower.

"Who is this from?" she asked.

The nurse looked at her. "I'm sorry, I don't know. It was just addressed to your room. Are they not for you?"

"N-no. They're for me. Thank you for bringing them here," Lili said. The nurse smiled and nodded before leaving. Lili picked up the card tied around the neck of the vase. It was for the eucalyptus flower. The meaning was protection. Under the meaning there was a note written in purple ink. It read, _'I tried protecting you. I truly did. I'm sorry I didn't.'_ There was small circles on the card that were wrinkled. _Rain drops? But it didn't rain today... Tears? Maybe..._ Her head began hurting again, and Lili realized she was sleepy again. She held the card close and put her pounding head back down on the pillow and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

While sleep came quickly to Lili, Natalya lay awake in bed for most of the night, praying that Lili would be alright. Finally her body won over her mind and she fell into a dreamless, restless sleep.

* * *

**Okay, I didn't rush anything did I? I hope I didn't. Chapter 5 will be posted next week. I figure part 3 and 4 of this will do for the weekend. We had Friday off of school, which is the only reason why this isn't late.**

**I felt so happy writing the date between Hungary and Ukraine~ I hope you liked it. I really did. Heck, I was about to die out of fluffiness, and I was writing it! XD**

**I had to get out fluffiness and back to the plot here, so I hope you're not mad at what I did near the end. Plus I hope the FC moment wasn't bad. Was it needed? Not really, but I just felt I had to show where Cammy stood on this, and I'll probably mention where Ally and Sarah Lee stand in it all next chapter or chapter after. I guess I just want to show that they're not just clones of ASC. Meh.**

**Hope you liked it. Reviews are love~**


	8. Purple Hyacinth

News of Lili's fall spread through the town like wildfire. With nothing else to do, nine worried cheerleaders spread the news of the accident via text messages. In the end, everyone in the town of St. Hetalia was feeling at least a little bit worried.

When Vash arrived, they let him see Lili right away. "It's because he's her only family," the secretary said when Natalya asked why they, the cheerleaders, still couldn't see Lili yet. Natalya's emotions were going haywire. She felt terrible, but then felt anger if anyone talked to her with pity, something she _would not_ accept, or anger at Anna Samantha Courtney. Finally, deciding she was less dangerous alone, she left. Natalya headed to the flower shop, after grabbing a purple ink pen from her backpack and tucking into the sash of her dress, which she had changed into in the hospital bathrooms- she had been doing anything to keep her distracted and changing out of her sweats and t-shirt and back into her regular dress killed fifteen minutes.

Before long she was walking to the swing set with a vase and three flowers, a pink eucalyptus, a purple gladiolus, and a calla lily. She picked up the rosemary she had left there that morning and put it in the vase. Natalya sat in the swing, trying to sort her thoughts long enough to write something on the card. She focused on how afraid she was. Sadness and anger battled on inside her, but mostly she was afraid for Lili's sake. Natalya finished writing the small note and noticed she had cried onto the card. She wiped the tears rolling down her face away on her sleeve. She composed herself before heading back to the hospital. As she walked, she repeated one thing in her head over and over like a mantra: _Прабачце.

* * *

_

Lili woke up again and stayed awake. The first thing she felt was hunger. Yawning, she looked around, her mind slowly remembering everything. She looked at the vase of flowers and at the card in her hand, surprisingly unharmed. Vash looked up from the couch he was sitting on. "Oh, you're up. Are you alright? Does anything hurt?"

"Big brother, calm down. What happened?" Lili asked sleepily.

"You fell during practice and hit your head. Rumors are going around saying someone dropped you, but none of the other girls were close enough to see exactly what happened besides ASC, Natalya, and Monica, but Monica didn't see much, Natalya hasn't talked to anyone, and neither has ASC," Vash said. He seemed to notice the flowers for the first time. "What are-"

"I-I woke up earlier and a nurse had delivered them. They're from some girls from the squad," Lili said as she slipped the card behind her pillow. Vash looked at her suspiciously, but said nothing else. Lili looked at her brother and noticed the dark circles under his eyes. "You didn't sleep much, did you? Why don't you go back to sleep now that you know I'm better?" Vash nodded before laying down on the couch and doing just that.

Before Lili could reach for her cellphone on the desk and try calling Elizaveta, Chelle, or Natalya, the nurse walked in with her breakfast and her hunger was placed first over talking to her friends. _It's a school day, so they wouldn't pick up anyway,_ she thought. She didn't know how much her call would have helped Natalya.

* * *

Natalya hadn't even started on breakfast when Katyusha walked in her house, but that could easily be blamed on how slow she was moving. Either way, Katyusha noted Natalya's puffy, red eyes and the dark circles under them and gave her sister a hug.

"Why don't you stay home today? I'll call saying you're sick," Katyusha said. Natalya nodded before stepping out of the hug and slowly walking back upstairs. Katyusha watched her sister walk away with worry in her eyes. She mentally debated whether to call in sick herself so she could help Natalya or going to school. She chose the latter reluctantly, deciding Natalya wanted to be alone, and walked out the door.

* * *

At the school, ASC was like a spider weaving her web. She spread her 'side of the story' of how Natalya had dropped Lili. "She always gets the left, and that's the direction Lili fell in," she told them all. The cheerleaders couldn't remember exactly what happened in all the chaos, so they couldn't remember that Natalya had actually caught Lili. With Natalya's reputation, the rumor spread quickly. The only one who knew that ASC was lying was Katyusha, but ASC just said that Katyusha was just lying for her sister. Without Natalya there stand up for herself, nothing could be said for sure. In the end, the truth was so unclear to the students of St. Hetalia High School.

* * *

Ally was walking home with Cammy. The two lived close by, and Anna had yet again drove home without them. "W-why are we with her again? I hate being her clone. I miss my red hair, my freckles, and my glasses," Cammy said out of the blue.

"Because, you want to be popular, don't you? Anna's popular, so she can make us popular. If you don't like it, then you can always leave," Ally said simply. Cammy looked at her desperately. _But my hair and clothes aren't all that I miss. I miss your chocolate brown hair, and I miss you,_ Cammy thought sadly. _I loved you when I saw you on the first day of school last year. But now,_ _I can't remember who you are at all sometimes._

Next to her, Ally was thinking as well. _I'm sorry, but I won't go back to the way it was before. _Before moving to St. Hetalia, Ally had been bullied and harassed for being 'the only dumb brunette on the face of the Earth.' Finally, after telling her parents about it and a few therapy sessions, she and her family moved to St. Hetalia. _I won't go back to that. I refuse to! Anna said popular people don't get picked on, so all I have to do is become popular. _Her greatest mistake in it all, however, was not telling the one person who could really help her: Cammy.

The two didn't talk much the rest of the way home. Ally waved goodbye as she walked inside her house. Cammy waved before sulking on the way home. She walked up the driveway to her house, which was just down the street. Cammy kicked off her heels and walked into the kitchen.

"Hi Papa," she said as she walked in the kitchen. A tall, skinny man with long brown hair answered her.

"Hey honey. How was school?" he asked.

"The usual," she said, pouring herself a glass of milk.

"Any luck with Ally?"

Cammy shook her head sadly. "No luck. And now ASC is spreading rumors about Natalya. I wish I could stop it, but I can't. I can't fight against Ally."

Another man, this one just a tad shorter, but stronger built than than the first walked in with much shorter hair. "I'm sure it'll be fine, honey," he said.

"You always say that, Dad. It's hard when your supposed 'leader' is a homophobic and you happen to be the adopted daughter of two homos," Cammy said before gulping down her milk.

Papa walked over and gave her a cheerful hug. "Come now, it'll be all right in the end. There's always a happy ending somewhere," he said happily. Dad just nodded at the statement.

Cammy smiled slightly before nodding as well, pulling out of the squeeze/hug and walking upstairs to her room. She was happy slightly, then she looked in the mirror. Cammy saw her dyed blonde hair and freckle-less face and her smile vanished. _But Papa, what happily ever after is there when you're on the bad guy's side?

* * *

_

Vash had finally gone home by 3:00. The nurses said Lili would be back at school by Thursday. Elizaveta and Chelle stopped by after school to drop off a few things.

"You won't believe what ASC is saying. She's saying that Natalya dropped you!" Chelle said.

"Katyusha tried to stop the rumors- because Natalya wasn't at school today to stop them herself- but Kat was practically in tears about it," Elizaveta added. Kat had become her nickname for Katyusha, and in return, Katyusha called Elizaveta Liz.

"Is that really what happened?" Lili asked.

"No one knows," Chelle said.

"Anyway, I brought my camera. The one that prints off the pictures. And Chelle and I stopped by your to get your scrapbook," the senior said.

"But we also brought some homework for you to do," Chelle said.

"Thanks guys," Lili said. "You can go, I'll call you later."

"Okay, bye," Elizaveta said. "I'm going over to Katyusha's, so just call my cell."

"Same here, about calling my cellphone I mean. I'm going over to Bella's house. She wants to help me with my cheering," Chelle said.

"Okay, bye!" Lili said.

The two left the white room, leaving Lili alone. After taking photos of the card and flowers and writing a small entry, she picked up her cellphone and decided to call Natalya. _I need to see if she's alright.

* * *

_

Natalya's cellphone rang, arousing her from her nap. She had been sulkily napping in bed all day. It played the chorus of _'Her Name Is Alice'_ by Shinedown. She reached over from her bed and picked it up. "Hello," she said

"Hey Natalya. It's me, Lili."

Natalya sat up and gulped before answering. "Hi. How are you doing? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I won't be coming to school till Thursday, but I'm fine. I heard you weren't at school today. Did you get sick?"

"Uh, yeah. Something like that," Natalya said nervously.

Lili wondered whether or not to tell Natalya about what ASC was saying about her, and decided against it. "I hope you get better soon," she said instead.

"Thanks. Will you be participating in the pep rally on Friday? For that matter, are you coming to the football game?"

"Yeah. Do you think it'll rain?"

"I hope not. Last year I remember Katyusha saying that in the middle of a game is starting pouring. The band got soaked before they could even get to the band hall. To make matters worse, the away team had left most of their windows open on the bus. The game continued, but no one went home exactly happy."

Lili laughed. Natalya heard a door open and someone walk across the room. "Miss Zwingli, we need you to walk around some," a nurse said.

"Okay, just give me a minute," Lili said to the nurse. To Natalya she said, "I have to go now. Will you be stopping by later, though?"

"Uh, no. I'd love to, but I'd hate to get you sick with the same thing I have."

"Oh, okay," Lili said. _She sounds... disappointed? _Natalya thought. "You'll try to stop by tomorrow, right?"

"Uh, sure. If I feel any better," Natalya said, feeling terrible for lying.

"Okay. Bye," Lili said.

"Bye," she said. Then there was just dial tone. Natalya put the phone down and fell back into her bed. She sighed and decided to go back to sleep before she grew sad yet again.

* * *

The day was still a little cold as Chelle walked down the street in navy sweat pants and a light blue top, munching on a fish sandwich she had bought at the Scandinavian Cafe down the street. She stopped in front of house that smelled of chocolate and something else she couldn't quite place. The freshmen knocked on the dark door once and almost immediately Bella was there, in her usual beige outfit and ribbon headband.

"Hey Chelle. Come in."

"Hi Bella," Chelle said. She walked in and coughed at the smoky air in the room. "What is that smell?"

"My brother," Bella sighed. "Just try to ignore it, I'll tell him to open the windows. Why don't you go to the backyard? I'll be out there in just a sec."

Chelle nodded and headed to the back door once Bella pointed it out. As the senior angrily stormed off to get rid of the smoke, Chelle walked outside. It was still cold, but nothing too bad, as the sun had come out from behind the clouds. She looked around the backyard. The first thing she noticed was a tree-house in a tall, old tree with a tire-swing hanging from the tree. There was also a small tulip garden near the house and a trampoline with yellow leaves littering the black material that made up the center of it.

Bella soon came outside, knocking Chelle out of her small trance. "So!" she said, clapping her hands once. "What do you need help on?"

"Ms. Amunet says I'm moving too fast on one move, the one where one girl grabs the other's hips and they both learn forward and down then back and up again. And I need help with getting my legs higher up on the jumps."

Bella smiled. "The first one's easy. Come here, let me see exactly how you do it." Chelle walked over to stand in front of Bella, facing away from her. "Now, just do what you usually do. I need to see what's wrong before I fix it." She placed her hands on Chelle's hips, unknowingly causing the small girl to blush ever so slightly, and counted out the move.

Once done, she nodded. "Yep, you're definitely moving too fast."

"How do I fix it?" Chelle asked.

Bella grinned. "Just move like you move through water. Slow, but graceful and controlled. Now let's go through it a few more times."

Chelle nodded. Getting into position, she filled her thoughts with how she felt when she swam for the four counts. _Graceful and controlled_, she thought. After three more tries, Bella backed away. "Perfect," she said.

Chelle turned to look at the blonde girl. "Really?"

"Yeah. Just don't get too wrapped up in the whole water thing and you'll be fine," the senior said. "Now onto jumps. I had the same problem as a freshman, which is why we have a trampoline here." Bella walked over to the silver and black trampoline, followed by Chelle. "Just practice your jumps in the air then try them back on the ground. It helps a lot." She hopped up onto the trampoline before helping Chelle onto it.

Chelle walked around on the trampoline, testing the bouncy surface. Bella smirked, then jumped a huge jump all at once, knocking Chelle off her feet. The blonde laughed at the freshman's face as Chelle picked leaves out of her brown hair. Laughing, Chelle grabbed Bella's leg and pulled her down. She fell back with a small squeak of surprise. Jumping up, she ran as far as she could from Bella and still be on the trampoline.

"Oh, it's on now, Fishy," Bella said, the nickname just popping into her mind.

"Bring it, Cocoa," Chelle said, retorting with a nickname of her own.

Laughing, they bounced around in a constant struggle to knock to other off her feet. Finally, they collapsed in a fit of giggles. Finally, the giggles subsided.

"Hey Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"Do fish and chocolate go well together?" Chelle asked.

"Why do you ask?" Bella asked, sitting up to look at the freshman.

"I was just thinking. You like chocolate, and I like fish, so is there a dish containing both of those things?"

"I don't know. I know of chocolate shaped like fish, but I don't know about actual fish and chocolate." Seeing the slight disappointment that crossed over Chelle's face, she added, "I'll search it sometime and see if I find anything, okay? Should all else fail, why not try making our own?"

Chelle smiled. "That sounds great."

Bella grinned, leaned down and gave Chelle a chaste kiss on the lips, before hopping up and off the trampoline. "C'mon. Let me show you the tree-house. I go there when I need a quiet place to be," she said, as if unaffected by her recent action, but the blush on her face gave her away.

Chelle touched her lips as if checking to see if what had just happened was actually real.

"Are you coming?" Bella asked, halfway up the rope ladder.

"Uh sure," Chelle said. She hopped off the trampoline and followed Bella up the rope ladder. Her heart fluttered in her chest like a school of fish in a tank much too small. "Will I be coming over again soon?" she said, almost at the top of the ladder.

"Of course," Bella said. She gave a toothy grin. "Besides, you never practiced your jumps, so you have to come over again."

Chelle looked up, stunned for a moment, before laughing. _I could get used to this.

* * *

_

Lili lay in her hospital bed, tired and bored. She was depressed that her admirer hadn't sent any flowers yet. _Maybe they were busy? After all, I did get four flowers yesterday. Still..._

A nurse walked in at 8:25 with a purple hyacinth in a blue glass vase. The flower had one stem, but had many little purple flowers on it. Lili took the flower when the nurse handed it to her and uttered a quick 'thank you' before pulling the card around to look at it. The nurse left the room as Lili looked at the meaning of this violet flower: _I'm sorry._ The phrase was underlined three times in purple ink. Lili looked carefully at the card, and noticed more dots where the paper wrinkled. _They cried,_ Lili thought. She didn't notice the single tear of worry for her admirer until it had fallen off her red cheeks.

* * *

**First off, translations:**

**_Прабачце__: _I'm sorry in Belarusian. I could be wrong, so if I am, then sorry.**

**Okay, this chap is longer than usual. I have no clue exactly how it got so long, but meh. Another look at Cammy and Ally. Again, I feel I have to give them purpose. I hope you enjoyed to BelgSey moment thrown in there. I couldn't let you die of sadness, so I threw in fluff. Meh. Anyway, right now, it's late and I have state marching contest tomorrow. That being said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and reviews are love~**


	9. Violet Viscaria on Halloween

It was Friday night as the four girls in a red sports car drove to the St. Hetalia campus. Cammy sat in the back, talking to Ally who sat next to her, Anna was driving and Sarah Lee was sitting in the passenger seat. Glancing at Anna, Sarah Lee couldn't help but think back to the first day the two met.

It was the first day of Kindergarten for Sarah. She was the tall kid in the class with white blonde hair. She got lost on her way back from the playground because she had wandered from the group. So she was sitting there on the sidewalk in blue pants and a blue and white polka-dot shirt, dandelions in one hand and her soft 'blankie' in the other, when a girl walked in front of her and held a hand out to her. The first thing Sarah Lee thought was that this girl must be her guardian angel. The presumed angel took the blanket and used it to wipe away her tears.

"Are you lost?" she asked. Sarah nodded, sniffling.

"We were coming back from the playground when I saw some dandelions and just had to pick them," Sarah said.

"C'mon, I'll get you back to class. Are you in the same grade as me? I'm a first grader."

Sarah shook her head as this new girl helped her to her feet. "I'm in Kindergarten."

"Really? Wow. You must just be tall then. My name's Anna. What's your name?" she said as she helped the younger girl up.

"Sarah Lee... Can I call you Angel?"

"Sure and I'll call you Dandelion. You stopped to pick them and your hair is as white and puffy as a dandelion," she said laughing.

After that day, the two had been friends. Then came the summer that Anna turned thirteen years old. Next year she would be moving to St. Hetalia High School and out of the middle school in the town nearby. The first day of summer, Sarah was over at Anna's house. They had been having so much fun when suddenly Anna had kissed her on the cheek. Unfortunately, Anna's mother had seen.

She had rushed out of the house yelling at Sarah and Anna. "Go home you unholy child! Anna Samantha Courtney, you get in this house right now!" Anna had told Sarah to run home, so she did. Two days later, Anna's mother called and said Anna had left to go a summer camp. Sarah Lee knew it wasn't just 'camp' when her 'Angel' came back a totally different person. She wore heels, skirts and make-up. 'Angel' would never have worn that. She always wore pants, hated make-up, and would gladly burn every heel on the face of the earth. Then there was her hair. What was once a golden blonde was now light brown with blonde highlights.

"Angel?" Sarah asked.

"No. My name's Anna Samantha Courtney, 'kay?"

From there, nothing was the same. Sarah found out that the 'camp' was a special one, really religious, the 'all gays go to hell' and 'PDA is of the devil' type. Most importantly, it became quickly apparent that Anna hated all homos. Sarah's heart was broken. But she stayed near Anna, every hoping for the day when she would get her angel back. Even if not that, Anna still needed a friend sometimes.

_Even if I can't ever kiss her or hug her, I'll be fine just to hold her hand every now and again, to just be her friend, _Sarah thought, looking back.

"Hey, Sarah, we're here. C'mon, get out of the car," Anna said.

"Oh, ok," Sarah opened the door, only to fall on her face.

Anna laughed. "I swear sometimes you are the only dandelion that keeps falling instead of flying." She helped her friend up.

_And of course I stay for the few moments when I do get to see my Angel again._

_

* * *

_

Anyone who has ever been to a few football games knows at least a few simple things. First of all, if you happen to be an actual football player, band member, or cheerleader, eat before going because the smell of everything the concession stand is cooking _will_ linger in the area, especially if you forgot to eat. Secondly, the game _will_ last a while, so it will get dark and possibly cold depending on where you are and when. Based on the second rule, no one was surprised when in late October, on the last game before the playoffs, it was _cold._ The concession stand was selling hot chocolate, a major relief for the cheerleaders when half-time rolled around and they had a chance to eat and relax.

Ms. Amunet and Ms. Helena had taken orders, taken up money the girls had brought and got them all their requested food, hot chocolate being the main thing. So during half-time they all sat in a circle on the grass, just talking. That is, until the band started playing _'She's a Lady'_ by Tom Jones. Ms. Amunet pulled out a small green ball and nodded at Elizaveta.

"This is fun. Basically you just have to sing when the ball's tossed to and you have to throw it to someone else when one of the coaches taps you!" Elizaveta explained quickly.

"Yep. Helena, I'll get this half of the circle, you get the other half. I'll start," Amunet said.

_Well she's all you'd ever want, _

_she's the kind they'd like to flaunt and take to dinner._

She tossed the ball to Helena.

_Well she always knows her place,_

_she's got style she's got grace,_

_she's a winner._

Helena tossed the ball to Elizaveta, who laughed before singing while looking at Katyusha.

_She's a lady. Whoa, whoa, whoa, she's a lady._

_Talkin about that little lady, and that lady is mine._

Helena tapped Elizaveta on the shoulder, who tossed the ball just a bit to her right, straight to Katyusha.

_Well she's never in the way,_

_Always somethin nice to say, Oh what a blessin_

Amunet tapped Katyusha on the shoulder and she tossed the boll to the other side of the circle where Bella sat. Bella grabbed it and smiled.

_I can leave her own_

_Knowin she's okay alone, and there's no messin_

Bella was tapped on the shoulder, and she quickly tossed the ball to Chelle.

_She's a lady. Woah, woah, woah, she's a lady._

_Talkin about that little lady, and that lady is mine._

Chella was tapped on the shoulder by Helena. She jumped just slightly, and accidentally tossed the ball to Sarah Lee, who gulped before singing, hoping one of the coaches would stop her quickly.

_Well she never asks for very much and I don't refuse her._

_Always treat her with respect, I never would abuse her._

_What she's got is hard to find, and I don't wanna lose her._

_Help me build a mountain from a little pile of clay. Hey, hey, hey._

She tossed the ball like it was a burning coal in her hands once she was tapped. Tears almost threatened to come when she noticed the small glare Anna had sent her. Natalya caught the ball, and continued the song.

_Well she knows what I'm about,_

_She can take what I dish out, and that's not easy._

Natalya handed the ball to Lili once Amunet tapped her on the shoulder. She could only stare in awe as Lili sang.

_Well she knows me through and through,_

_She knows just what to do and how to please me._

"Everyone now, sing!" Amunet said laughing. Needless to say, everyone complied- minus ASC, but the rest of her clique couldn't resist the urge to sing along just a bit.

_She's a lady. Whoa, whoa, whoa, she's a lady._

_Talkin about that little lady and the lady is mine._

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's a lady. Listen to me baby, she's a lady._

_And the lady is mine._

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's a lady. Talkin about this little lady_

_Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, and the lady is mine._

_Yeah yeah, she's a lady. And the lady is mine._

At the end of song, they were all laughing- again, with the exception of ASC. She stood up and glared at all the girls around her, including her clique. "If you're gonna all be this gay then I'm going home." She turned on her heels and almost stormed out of the stadium. Sarah Lee stood up and caught her before she walked totally out of the gate.

"Anna, it was just a song. Please come back," Sarah said.

Anna glared. "I saw that look in their eyes; they meant it. I almost thought you did too... Did you?" she said, poison dripping from her words.

"Of course not," Sarah said. Inside her, a small voice was crying, begging to say yes. "I-it was just a game. I was only singing. So will you please come back." When Anna hesitated, she practically stabbed the crying voice with a knife by saying, "You don't wanna hide from the lesbians now do you? Don't show them that you're weak."

Anna smiled, not a sweet smile, but a challenging smile. "Thanks. I know I can trust you no matter what."

"Thanks. I-I'm gonna go fix my make-up. I left the bag in your car, so I'll just fix it in there and be back before half-time's over."

"Sure. Here's the keys." Anna said. She handed the keys to Sarah before walking back to the group and talking with Cammy and Ally. Sarah practically ran to the car.

For four minutes she sat there, and cried her heart out. It took half a minute to clean off the running mascara, and one minute to fix it back again. She looked herself over in the mirror before rushing back to the football game. _How much longer can I keep this up?_ she wondered. Then she glanced at Anna. _As long as it takes to get my angel back. For that, I'll go to hell and back; hell can't be much worse than this._

_

* * *

_

After the game, Bella explained that she would be holding a Halloween party. "You have to wear a costume, no exceptions. If we can tell who you are easily, then you didn't do a good enough job on the costume. There will be food, music, dancing, and the party won't be over till midnight! Anyone who leaves before midnight-" she said and grinned like a fox. "-or is scared away, will have their house egged, tee-pee-ed, or such like that. Anyone who disagrees with this can just stay home!"

With that being said, she cheered, the others who planned to go the party echoing her. Needless to say, the wheels in Natalya's head were already turning.

* * *

Halloween night, Bella's backyard was lit up with orange, black, red and purple lights flashing everywhere. The only other light source came from jack-o-lanterns scattered across the yard. The music came from speakers in the tree-house, and a long table of candy, punch, and soda was spread in front of the actual house. The first there, obviously, was Chelle, dressed as a mermaid, to no one's surprise. Bella, dressed as the grim reaper, with plastic a scythe and a dark cloak, was the DJ. Then Elizaveta arrived, dressed as a red devil. Needless to say, she still had her camera. Accompanying her was Katyusha, dressed as an angel, with a white gown, gold wings and halo. Lili arrived shortly after dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. A red cloak lay on her shoulders, underneath it there was a old-style white dress with a black apron sown onto the front with frills and lace all around it. The dress stopped at her knees with more lace, but Lili wasn't cold. She wore white stockings and red slippers to keep her legs warm.

She tried finding Natalya, but just couldn't spot her anywhere. Eventually, as the party starting going, she resigned to drink some punch and watch as people danced on the 'dance-floor.' Then a stranger walked in. She wore a masquerade mask that tied in the back with a snout like a wolf's, a dark blue hat with wolf ears on top and a dark blue cloak. Underneath she seemed to be wearing a dark blue and crimson dress with a wolf tail attached. She walked over to Lili and bowed gracefully.

"Uh, h-hello. I don't believe we've met. I'm Lili. Who are you?"

Without answering, the girl held out a flower, a violet viscaria. Lili gaped before taking the flower and reading the card. Written in purple ink on the front was a message, _You may call me Wolf for tonight._ Lili opened the card and read the meaning of the flower, _Will you dance with me?_

Lili looked up, a blush creeping onto her face, and nodded. _Wolf_ took her hand and led her to the 'dance-floor.' Bella starting playing _'Hey There Little Red Riding Hood'_ by Bowling For Soup. With that song playing, they danced. Not a slow dance, but a bit of a fast dance. Soon Lili was laughing happily. A small crowd circled them and watched the two dance as if they had done this together all their lives. Lili saw Wolf smile, and it seemed so familiar, but at the moment she just couldn't place it. Near the front of the crowd she heard Elizaveta snapping photos like there was no tomorrow.

Reaper Bella finished up the song and switched it to a slow song. "Grab a partner, gals. We're at a slow dance and about to dim the lights." Her voice deepened and darkened as she said, "Plus, you don't want to be left alone in the dark _on Halloween night._"

The lights did dim, slowing in their spinning movements to just barely sweep over the dance-floor. The jack-o-lanterns cast an orange glow on the yard. Wolf pulled Lili close as the two moved slowly around the dance-floor. Lili looked up into Wolf's eyes peeking from behind the mask. Her heart fluttered in her chest. Her mouth opened as if trying to form the words she wanted to say, but nothing came out. Wolf leaned down, and her lips brushed against Lili's cheeks just barely. Lili wanted to stay like this forever.

Sadly, what she wanted was far from what happened. All too soon, the song ended. Before anyone could move, a chainsaw roar and the clack of opening knives filled the night and shadowy figures stood in a spotlight. Girls screamed and cowered, some ran to the tree-house. Lili backed away from the roar and covered her ears. All too late did she notice that Wolf had vanished.

Soon lights were cut on and people were laughing. There Ms. Amunet and Ms. Helena stood in Freddy Krueger and Jason costumes. Bella took the microphone. "Okay, thanks coaches. That was brilliant!" She laughed.

Moving the hockey mask and turning off the chainsaw, Amunet said, "No problem, Bella. Besides, it wouldn't be Halloween if someone didn't get scared." Next to her, Helena moved a strand or two of hairs back into place with the hand that didn't have deadly extensions of knives, acting serene as always, but a giddy smile spread across her face.

"See if anyone ran home; if so, we've got work to do ladies!" Bella said.

Murmurs floated around as people took head counts. Lili looked in the crowd, but didn't see a blue hat and wolf ears or mask. Her heart sank as she realized that Wolf had left. _Now I know what the prince in Cinderella felt..._

In the end, no one had run- that they could identify at least- so the party just continued. Lili drifted off to the side, ever hoping for her wolf to show. At midnight, she walked home alone. At least, for the first part of the walk home. Then she felt someone beside her.

"Hey there Little Red Riding Hood. I don't think even big girls should go walking in these spooky old woods alone." Lili looked to her side and saw Wolf. She took her hand, and they walked the way home in blissful silence. Wolf bowed and kissed Lili's hand as a farewell. Lili shut the door and walked upstairs. She fell on her bed exhausted, and fell asleep in her costume, a blissful smile spread across her face.

* * *

Natalya sighed as she pulled off the dark blue hat, her hair falling out of it and down her back. Tonight had been long, but fun. _Why don't I just come out and tell her I love her?_ she wondered.

A tiny voice in her head said, _Because you're afraid, afraid that she won't feel the same, afraid that she'll hate you. Or maybe, it's because you still love your brother..._

_ No! s_he thought. _I am afraid of those things, but I don't love my brother. Not like I used to. So shut up and leave me alone already!_

_ You don't want to get close to her because you're afraid that you will hurt her. You don't care a bit about your own pain, but one little accident nearly crushed you, when it wasn't even your fault!_ the voice said. _And you have every right to fear that,because we both know you're dangerous. We both know you're deadl-_

"Shut up!" Natalya said aloud. She gulped and walked upstairs to her room. "Just go to sleep, just go to sleep. Work it out in the morning." At half-past midnight, it took no time at all for her to fall asleep.

* * *

Late at night, Katyusha walked into her house, soon followed by Elizaveta.

"Thanks for letting me stay the night, Kat."

"No prob, Liz." Katyusha walked into her room. "Oh, you didn't bring something to change into did you?"

"No, but it's fine. I'll just borrow something of yours. That is, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead. But let's get this make-up and such off first."

"Let's just take a bath then," Elizaveta said.

"O-okay. You can go first and-"

"No, that'll take too long, and it's already late enough. Let's take one together~" Elizaveta said. She grabbed Katyusha's hand and tugged her towards the bathroom, Katyusha blushing all the way.

* * *

Chelle stayed at Bella's house when the party ended. After everyone left and the messes were cleaned up, she and Bella had changed into their pajamas and put sleeping bags, blankets and pillows in the tree-house after deciding to sleep there.

"Hey Bella? I'm cold. Can I get closer to you?" Chelle asked.

"Sure," Bella said. Chelle moved closer and Bella sighed. "You'll never get warm that way. Get here." She pulled Chelle closer and hugged her. "There you go. Better?"

"Y-yeah," Chelle said, blushing. "B-Bella, does this make us a couple?"

Bella laughed. "Of course, seashell. Now go to sleep."

And so she did. They all did, for tomorrow was a new day, a new chance to figure things out, a new chance to find happily ever after somewhere. Tomorrow they would wait on angels, on flowers, and on people to realize how deep emotions run. But, for now, all that could wait, because right now, they all just slept.

* * *

**Finally, I get to sleep in on Saturdays! Band contests are finally over, thank god! Now I can get some more sleep.**

**Hope you enjoyed this, I tried not to make it too long, but obviously that didn't go well. I wanted to have Sarah Lee's part, but I knew I had to have a Halloween thing to, so meh. As to what happened during Elizaveta's and Katyusha's bath... XD I'll let you just fill in the blank yourself.**

**Anyway, I've got to get ready for a Halloween party I'm going to later, so, reviews are love and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!**


	10. Mint Aroma

Monday proved to be cold, and not just a "oh, I better grab a small jacket today" kind of cold. No, it was the "I better wear a scarf, gloves, and a thick jacket" kind of cold. So, Monday morning all the students of St. Hetalia High School showed up, looking as if they could brave a blizzard. Because school didn't start until 7:50, the Scandinavian Cafe was packed with students wanting to grab a coffee to make it through the cold morning or hot chocolate just so they could have something warm to hold on the trek to the school.

Elizaveta, Katyusha, Lili, Natalya, Chelle and Bella took up a booth far from the window as they talked about this and that, just normal little things. The first topic that came up after Bella and Chelle announced that they were dating dating was how cold it was.

"This weather makes me wish Christmas would just get here already," Elizaveta said.

"Same here. My favorite part is all the delicious food that seems to be only made around Christmas," Chelle agreed.

"Like candy canes and such?" Katyusha said.

"Yeah," Natalya and Lili said at the same time.

Lili looked at Natalya and smiled. "You like candy canes too?"

Natalya nodded. "Katyusha and I always used to hang some on a Christmas tree when we were little."

"I remember that," Katyusha said. "You would always take a few even if our parents told you not too."

"Can we move off Christmas? Halloween was just yesterday you know," Elizaveta said. She pulled off her thick coat. "At least it's warm in here."

"It is, isn't it?" Katyusha said. She pulled off her scarf and almost immediately Bella began laughing. She whispered to Chelle, who began giggling. Chelle whispered to Lili, who giggled as well before whispering to Natalya. Natalya bit her lip, trying not to laugh.

"Uh, sister. What's that on your neck?" Natalya said, pointing to a purple mark on Katyusha's neck. Katyusha blushed a deep red, quickly covering up the mark with her hand.

Elizaveta laughed nervously. "Uh, sorry Kat. C'mon, I'll come with you to the bathroom and help you cover it up with some make-up." Katyusha nodded and the two slid out of the booth.

Bella leaned close to the table and whispered, "Let's just hope Eliza doesn't forget about covering it up and end up giving her another one." Lili and Chelle couldn't help but laugh.

When the two came back, Elizaveta looked at the clock on her phone. "We should head to school now, otherwise we'll be late." The six girls walked towards the door. Elizaveta grabbed one more hot chocolate from the counter telling Tino she would pay for it on her way back from school.

"'Kay. Have a nice day, Elizaveta."

"Bye Tino. Have a nice day with Berwald~," she said as she walked out the door, leaving a blushing Fin to wonder how many secret cameras she could have hidden in the cafe.

* * *

ASC slid books into her locker, plotting her next move. Sarah stood next to her, awaiting orders. "Sarah.. has Cammy been acting weird lately?"

"Sorry, I haven't noticed anything," Sarah said obediantly.

"I need you to do some research on her. Find anything that might be useful. Does she have any weird allergies? Drunkards or retards of parents? Anything bad in the permanent record? Whatever it is, find it. Understood?" Anna said, closing her locker.

"Yes. I'll get on it right away. Just watch my back, okay?"

"Of course. Now let's go."

The two approached the office quietly. Anna peeked in and noticed the principal and the vice principal were gone. "I don't even want to know," she said as Sarah tiptoed in and took a seat at the computer.

Typing rapidly, she opened the files needed and printed them off. "I'll go through them during our next class."

"Close it, get them, and go; I hear footsteps!" Anna said. Sarah closed the files, grabbed the papers off the printer and met Anna at the door. She slid the papers into her notebook and the two nonchalantly walked away, just barely avoiding a small group of teachers on the way to their classrooms.

In study lab, Sarah scanned the papers as Anna did her homework. Cammy and Ally were busy elsewhere looking at books for an essay in English. _Nothing in the permanent record.. her grades are flawless... does this girl have anything wrong with her?_ Sarah got to the last paper, basic information. _House phone number, emergency number... no allergies or medication... Is there anything at all? The only thing left on this page is her parent's nam- hold up, hold up!.. Mr. Tommy McMillan and Mr. Phil McMillan? Both Mr.? Her parents are gay? That would make Cammy adopted. Wow..._

"Sarah? Sarah, are you still on planet Earth?" Anna said.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. I think I have something, but I need to check it first, okay?"

Anna nodded, accepting the answer. "Tell me what you get, as soon as you know for sure. Now if you excuse me, I've got work to do." She stood and walked over to a different section of the study lab, out of sight.

For nearly half an hour, Sarah debated telling Anna or not. _I have to tell her... I have to... just not right away... Besides, she's busy. Her next plan probably doesn't even involve Cammy..._ Before she could continue thinking, ASC came back and sat next to her. "Okay. Listen carefully. I know exactly what we're gonna do next."

* * *

After school and before cheer-leading practice, Elizaveta, Katyusha, Chelle, Bella, Natalya and Lili were back at the Scandinavian Cafe. "Like I was saying, I heard that, like, seven people got sick today." Bella said.

"I saw Lovino get sick. I heard him still puking his guts out and screaming curses as they took him to the office," Chelle said.

"Oh yeah. Haha. I think the whole school heard him," Elizaveta said.

Katyusha laughed. "I think the one that took the cake was Feliks. He puked on himself them screamed about his skirt being ruined until Toris finally took him home."

"Oh yeah... it was a nice skirt, wasn't it?" Elizaveta said.

Chelle and Bella laughed and nodded. Natalya smiled somewhat, then looked over at Lili. "Lili, are you okay? You look kinda bad."

"I'm fine," Lili said. "Really."

"You sure? If you feel sick we can take you home." Elizaveta said.

"Really, I'm fine..." Lili said, her voice fading. She slumped to her side and ended up in Natalya's lap. Natalya gingerly touched her forehead.

"Let's take her home. She definitely has a fever," she said.

Bella looked at her watch. "Practice starts in 15 minutes. We better hurry unless we wanna be late."

They all hopped into Katyusha's van with Natalya carrying Lili. The six girls drove to Lili's house. Natalya stepped out of the car, carrying Lili on her back. "Be sure to tell the coaches why you're late and why I'm not coming," she said.

"Wait, not coming?" Chelle asked.

"That's right! Vash won't be home. It's Monday; he works as an assistant at the bank on Mondays," Elizaveta said, realizing it.

"So I'll just stay over and help Lili till he does get home," Natalya said. "Katyusha can fill me in on whatever I miss after practice."

"Fine. Just don't get sick yourself, okay, Natalya?" Katyusha said.

"I'll try not to sister. Just go already," Natalya said. The car door closed and the van drove off.

Natalya walked into Lili's house and realized she had no idea where Lili's bedroom was. _Well, I __know it's not downstairs, so I guess I'll just go upstairs and look around till I find it._ She walked up the stairs and looked inside several rooms. One was the bathroom, another was Vash's room (at least she assumed since there was a bed and a glass case with several types of guns inside), and another was a spare bedroom. Finally she walked into a room with purple walls and a pink and purple striped bed. "This must be her room then," Natalya said.

She set Lili on the bed and pulled the covers around the shivering girl. She pulled Lili's hair out of her face and went down to the kitchen. Natalya grabbed a glass of water and stopped by the bathroom to get a thermometer and some pills. She sat down on a stool next to Lili's bed and gently shook the blonde girl. "Lili, wake up. I need to take your temperature."

Lili's eyes open groggily. "What happened?" she muttered.

"You're sick. Now open your mouth so I can take your temperature," Natalya said. Lili slowly complied. Natalya stuck the thermometer under her tongue. "Hold that there, okay? Are you cold or hot?"

"Cold," Lili muttered. "Extra blankets are in the closet at the end of the hall." Natalya nodded. She walked to the end of hallway and came back with two thick blankets. She arranged them on the bed nicely. Once she was done, Lili slowly handed her the beeping thermometer. Natalya took it and looked at the small screen.

"100.9 degrees Fahrenheit," Natalya said. She handed Lili the glass of water and the pills. "Take these then get some sleep."

"What about cheer-leading practice?" Lili asked, leaning back down into her pillows.

"You're not going and neither am I today. The coaches will understand."

"B-but-" Lili began. Natalya put a finger to her lips, quieting her.

"Get some sleep," she said. Lili would have protested, but all energy was sapped from her as soon as she closed her eyes. Natalya smiled slightly at the peaceful look on her face.

* * *

The last thing Lili remembered was someone petting her hair. When she woke up, Vash was feeling her forehead. Lili blinked. "How long was I asleep?"

"About an hour or two. I came home and Natalya left after that," Vash said. "Are you hungry?" When Lili nodded he said, "Okay. I'll go back downstairs and fix you some soup."

"Thank you, big brother," Lili said as he left. She sighed and sniffed ever so slightly. _Is that...mint?_ She looked around the room and finally glanced out the window. Perched on the windowsill were mint flowers with the leaves still attached. Tying them all together was a small ribbon with a card attached.

She gulped and stood up. Using some of the energy gained from her long nap, she opened the window and shivered before quickly pulling the flowers inside and shutting the window. Lili opened the card and read the meaning of the sweet smelling flowers, protection from illness. She laughed at that. Written in purple ink on the from was simply _'Get Well Soon_._'_ Lili smiled. Before she could begin writing in her scrapbook/diary, another pang of tiredness swept over her like a wave. _Five more minutes...

* * *

_

Vash walked back upstairs with a hot, fresh bowl of soup. Once he entered the room, however, he saw his little sister back asleep. Smiling, he set the bowl next to her bed and slowly, quietly left the room, shutting the door behind him. Before he went back downstairs, though, he caught a whiff of something. He wondered aloud as he walked down the stairs, "What smells like mint?"

Before he could clean up the kitchen, the phone rang. Vash picked it up and answered. "Hello?"

"Hey Vash. It's Elizaveta. You're on speaker right now at the end our cheer-leading practice. We wanted to ask you about a slumber party next week," she said.

"You see, every year we hold a slumber party and Elizaveta says your basement would be perfect, but we needed to ask your permission of course," Helena said calmly.

"Sounds good. When is it?" Vash asked.

"This Saturday if we can get it all together in time," Amunet said.

"Okay. I'll tell Lili about it when she wakes up."

"Thank you. We hope Lili gets better soon," Helena said.

"Bye~," Amunet said before hanging up.

* * *

Anna climbed into her car at the end of cheer-leading practice, Sarah quickly following. Before Cammy and Ally got there, Anna turned to Sarah and grinned like the Cheshire cat. "Told you it would be held at her house. Now the real planning can begin."

* * *

**Sorry this is late. I was busy Friday night and nearly all of Saturday. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Meh, not much to say really. Kinda cliff-hanger ending for this chapter. XD and I won't be telling you anything. You'll have to wait till the next chapter. **

**Reviews are love~**


	11. Withered Flowers Part 1

**To begin, I guess I want to apologize for the last chapter. Lack of sleep plus a cold shower and some stress kinda ruined my writing. But I promise it wont happen again!... At least, it shouldn't. Hehe... Meh, moving on to the chapter!

* * *

**

Monday you're tired, Tuesday is a little better, Wednesday is okay, Thursday uses up the last of your energy, and by Friday you are either dead tired or bouncing off the walls depending on who you are. The cheerleaders were the most anxious on Friday, something plain to see. As the clocks on the walls of their individual classrooms ticked away the last few minutes, thoughts flooded through everyone's minds.

Sarah tapped her pencil nervously against the desk in Math class. _Can I really go through with this? I know I'd do anything for my Angel, but for Devil... I have no clue. All I can do is hope..._

Anna in Science was grinning evilly at the clock, reviewing her plan, over and over. _I've perfected this all week, now just to put on the final performance and end this._

Ally and Cammy were both whispering, much to the agitation of the librarian, eagerness of their first sleepover with all the cheerleaders blinding them from the storm clouds that practically flowed from their leader just a few classrooms away.

Katyusha chewed on her pencil eraser in English. _Okay, I've packed pajamas, shampoo, conditioner, plenty of clothes... Ugh, I know I'm forgetting something! What is it? Cellphone charger? No, I already packed that... what else? What else?... Toothbrush and toothpaste! I'll pack it right when I get home!_

Elizaveta and Bella were planning what havoc they could wreak... but in different ways. In Social Studies, while Elizaveta mentally rolled around options for truth or dare and if she could get a spin-the-bottle game going, Bella was thinking more along the lines of shaving cream in someone's- most likely Anna's- bra and water balloons.

Chelle drummed her fingers on the keyboard in Computer Discovery without typing anything, her legs tensing and relaxing, eager for the bell. _I wonder if the neighbor will really feed my pet fish? I should ask them a few more times before I leave for the night... I wonder if I could bring fresh fish as a snack... or would it be more like dinner? I'll ask Bella when I get the chance..._

Natalya was looking down at her desk and up at Lili at times, nervously sorting her thoughts. _Should I tell her at the slumber party? It would be nice... but do I really have the courage? What if she says no? What will I do then?..._

Not far from her, Lili sat in her desk in their Science class, thinking about Natalya. _We're friends, but... I think I might just be starting to feel something else. I can't quite place it, but... maybe it's-_

Before her thoughts could continue, the bell rang. The sounds of the scrape of chairs on the floor and a uproar of random voices, some actually holding conversations and others just whooping and hollering, flooded through the school like a tidal wave. Anna smiled all the way to her car. _Let the games begin.

* * *

_

As the cheerleaders ran around making last minute changes to their luggage, Lili was downstairs in the basement spreading around blankets and pillows on the inflatable mattresses. To one side of the room there was a long table full of chips and dip, soda, chocolate, and candy- all in all, enough sugar that near no one would be going to bed early tonight. To the back of the room stood a projector plugged into a DVD player and a shelf of DVD s next to it. Lili smiled at her work. "Perfect! Now just to wait till everyone gets here."

Vash walked downstairs and into the basement. "I'm going now. I'll be right next door if you need me. Don't stay up late. Don't forget to brush your teeth. And if anything happens-"

"Brother, stop worrying. Everything's going to be fine. And should something happen Ms. Helena and Ms. Amunet will be upstairs," Lili said happily.

"... Fine. But still, call me if anything happens, understood?" Vash said, heading up the stairs.

Lili followed him to the front door. "I understand. Now just go over to Roderich's house and try to relax."

Vash nodded. "Bye. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Lili called as he walked away. She shut the door and looked around the room. She laughed aloud for no reason. "I can hardly wait."

* * *

St. Hetalia was a small town, so it wasn't long before nearly everyone arrived. ASC and Sarah finally arrived fifteen minutes after everyone else had shown up. Walking in, Anna looked disgusted at the way it was set up.

"We're sleeping on mattresses on the floor? And why is there no space between them?" Anna complained loudly.

"It's just the way it is, so shut up and pick a mattress already," Bella said. Huffing, Anna picked the one closest to the door, farthest from everyone else, except Sarah who picked the mattress next to her. Ally and Cammy moved closer to their 'leader' but kept a little bit away.

Helena and Amunet took the small stage and got the girls' attention. "Why don't you watch a movie for a while? Just do whatever you want. Helena and I will be upstairs if you need us," Amunet said happily.

Before they left, Helena looked at them all and said sharply, "Don't fight over what movie to watch. Don't fight at all. If you do, you _will_ be forced to leave. Understood?" Without waiting for an answer, she followed Amunet up the stairs.

The girls looked around before continuing unpacking if they weren't already done. The seniors chose the movie and after some debate between them, finally picked out _'Paranormal Activity'_. Elizaveta popped the DVD into the DVD player and sat down next to Katyusha. Everyone grabbed the bowls of chips and popcorn and passed them around to avoid having to get up during the movie. Once that was done, Anna, being closest, turned off the lights.

Soon everyone was clutching someone else closely. Anna was hiding behind Sarah, who was happy that Anna was acting like Angel, but was terrified as well. Katyusha was practically in Elizaveta's lap, trying not to watch but couldn't help do so. Chelle and Bella were holding each other and shaking, but trying not to scream. Monica and Cloe looked about the same as Chelle and Bella, but with Cloe doing nothing to stop her screams and Monica trying to stay even remotely calm and failing. Mei and Lein were attempting to not scream and grab each other, to no avail. Lili sat next to Natalya, gripping her arm and hiding her face in Natalya's shoulder when she got scared the most.

Almost immediately after the movie ended, Anna flipped on the lights. Everyone looked around, and slowly, shakily moved back to the way they were before the movie. "What time is it?" Elizaveta asked.

"About 8:00," Ally said.

"So what now?" Cammy asked.

"I know~" Elizaveta said, grabbing her bag from under the table. She pulled out a glass bottle. Anna glared, but said nothing as Elizaveta placed the bottle in the center of the room and motioned the girls to move closer in a circle. Sarah looked questioningly at Anna who just whispered, "Play along. Don't draw attention to yourself." Sarah nodded. Ally and Cammy just followed the two.

Elizaveta pulled out a coin before explaining how the game would go. "Heads means regular kiss, tails means French kiss. After flipping the coin, spin and see who it lands on. In this case who goes next is based on grade and on whether or not they have been kissed yet. Once everyone's been kissed then we start over and just go by who was spun last with every kiss being Frenched. Understood? Good. Kat, you're first."

Katyusha took the coin and flipped it. It landed on heads. Katyusha spun the bottle, and everyone held their breath. To no surprise, or maybe to some surprise, it stopped on Elizaveta. Elizaveta leaned over and gave Katyusha a quick peck on the lips. _I was so hoping that it would land on tails. O well,_ Elizaveta thought.

Bella took the coin and flipped it; tails. "Yes!" she said happily. She spun the bottle, looking at Chelle hopefully. When it stopped on Chelle, some were beginning to think that the game was rigged, but decided to not say anything. Bella kissed Chelle, just on the lips at first, but soon her tongue asked for entrance. Chelle complied; what else could she do? Not that she was complaining. Finally the two pulled away, both blushing.

"You're turn ASC," Bella said, handing the coin to Anna. She glared and sighed.

"Please be heads," she whispered to herself. Lucky for her, it landed on heads. Anna gulped and spun the bottle. Sarah secretly had her fingers crossed, begging to be chosen. Luck was on her side, or at least some being decided that in return for what would later happen to her that she deserved something. Anna made it quick, just a peck on the lips, but it was enough to ensure that Sarah wouldn't turn back.

As the bottle was spun and the coin flipped, Lien kissed Mei, Monica French kissed Cloe, Ally French kissed Cammy, and finally it was Lili's turn. Before she could flip the coin, Anna decided to begin her plan.

"Hey, Lili, we're out of chips," ASC said. Sarah immediately tensed ever so slightly.

"Oh, there are some in the kitchen. I can show you where they ar-" Lili began.

"No, why don't you stay here and finish your turn? I'll go get the chips for Anna. Natalya's been here before, I'm sure. She can show me where the chips are," Sarah said. "You can tell us the results of your turn when we get back."

"Um, okay. Natalya, you don't mind do you?" Lili asked.

"Not at all..." She said, but her suspicions were growing. Natalya didn't know why, but she knew something felt... off.

The two stood and walked upstairs. Natalya led them to the kitchen, switching on the lights as she walked in. She opened a cabinet above the counter and pulled out several bags of chips. Sarah stood to Natalya's right, waiting. She tried to calm her nervousness, to no avail. Then Sarah thought about that one peck on the lips and the one on the cheek all those years ago.

"Natalya, could you pass me that knife. I want to look at it for a second," Sarah said with sickening innocence.

"Um, sure," Natalya said. Pulling the knife from its place on the counter, she wondered for a moment why a knife would just be laying on the counter top like that.

Sarah gingerly took the knife, just barely touching it.

"Anna hates you, ya know. Therefore, I hate you as well..."

"I don't ca-" Natalya began.

"Lili. Anna hates Lili too. I don't blame her. She's weak, useless, and far too dependent on everyone around her. Her eyes are the sickeningly green, her hair is dully blonde. She's ugly and worthless. Yet somehow, you love her. It's sick..."

Sarah glanced up from looking at the knife to Natalya with dead eyes. Natalya looked, and by all means was, furious. Her face was red, her hands clenched into fists. "Perfect," Sarah mumbled numbly.

_I will do..._

In fluid motions, she positioned the knife right where she had been told to, right where she had rehearsed it going.

_...just about anything..._

She plunged the knife in, still just barely touching it.

_...for my Angel._

Then ringing through the night was a long, blood-curdling scream.

* * *

**Enjoy? I hope you did. Because I'm about to torture you. Haha. The next part, unlike how I did chapter 4, will not be up till next Saturday. **is shot****

**And I won't be answering any questions about this chap that may reveal what happened. :3 **shot again****

**XD Reviews are love~**


	12. Withered Flowers Part 2

_ There was a time when it was so simple. But that was so long ago. Going back is impossible. Those times are about as real as miracles now. I don't remember what that time was like._ They _beat it out of me. I see faces and names, but they are hidden by a thick fog of fear and forced resentment. Natural instincts to us are to reject pain, so by mixing something with the thought of pain, making anyone believe absolutely anything is far too easy. Too sickeningly easy. I have tried to return it back to normal. I can't. _

_ Fear can make someone do anything, can make someone believe and reject anything at all. _They _used it to make me forget. _They _used it to drill _their _ideas into me head. If I knew what ideas they were, believe me, I would destroy them. But you can't hit something when you have no idea what you're aiming for._

_ Eventually, the will to find it and destroy it faded, just like the screams I used to hear in my head. I used to dream of angels of dandelions before. Now I just plot... I don't even know why. I see the destruction is causes, but I just can't bring myself to do a thing about it. It's like watching an atomic bomb explode on TV. You don't like it, but you just can't do anything about it. That has become my life. I exist, but inside I'm dead. I've become a puppet, saying and doing things are never truly me._

_ There are the rare moments when my head is clear and I can make sense of things and not just act like a puppet. I wish those moments would last forever, but they only ever last a moment. I know why people would hate being trapped in between heaven and hell. There is no resolution, just a never ending void._

_ This is my life. I can't reach out for help. I can't help myself. It hurts, but not a sharp, burning pain. It hurts like a ache that makes you forever numb to all else. It hurts. It hurts.

* * *

_

The scream jolted all the girls out of their bored stances. Anna jumped up first and ran up the stairs, jumping three at a time. She ran into the kitchen and found the scene exactly like she knew it would be. Sarah was on the floor screaming in pain, with tears running down her face and a knife lodged a few inches above her heart. _Perfect._ ASC rushed over to her as the others, Helena and Amunet arrived.

Helena was the first to begin moving again. "Lili, where's the first aid kit?"

"I-in the bathroom upstairs," she said shakily.

"I'll go get it," Amunet said, racing up the stairs.

Anna jumped up and threw herself at Natalya. "YOU BITCH! YOU TRIED TO KILL HER! YOU TRIED TO KILL HER!"

"No! I didn't!" Natalya said, narrowly avoiding being cut by Anna's nails.

"You were the only other person in this room! WHAT ELSE COULD HAVE FUCKING HAPPENED?"

"Bella, Elizaveta, restrain Anna. Katyusha, take your sister to the living room and don't let anyone leave," Helena said, trying to keep the catastrophe under control.

The Elizaveta and Bella did as told, casting wary glances at Natalya. Katyusha led her sister to the living room, looking as if she had no idea what to believe.

Sarah had stopped screaming but was now sobbing and crying. Ally and Cammy were next to her, offering what little help they could. Amunet rushed into the kitchen with the first aid kit. As gently as she could, she removed the knife and she and Helena began trying to stop the bleeding.

"I'll call 911," Chelle said, pulling out her cellphone.

Sarah sobbed out a few sentences, trying to explain what had supposedly happened to her. "All I did was ask if her brother was psychotic. Then sh-she stabbed me!"

Lili was standing in the middle of the kitchen, no idea what to do. _Natalya wouldn't do something like that. She said she was over her brother, but... what else could have happened?_ So confused, Lili fell on her knees and just watched the scene play out in horror.

Not far away, Anna was slumped over in a corner, surrounded by Elizaveta and Bella while she 'calmed down.' She stole a glance at Lili. She didn't move, but her eyes shone with sick happiness. _Game over. I win._

Natalya looked at Lili as well. Tears welled up in her eyes, begging her to cry over her. Right now, nothing seemed easier than crying. But she didn't cry. _Tears won't help me... but now Lili hates me... _For a moment, she wished she was alone, just so she could cry her heart out and not care like a child. She wanted to lock herself in her room and just scream until she couldn't anymore. She wanted to, but right now Natalya couldn't. She couldn't even comfort Lili. That one fact stung the most. She could do nothing to help herself, and she couldn't even help anyone around her.

* * *

The ambulance arrived and took Sarah away, with Anna following in her car. Helena gathered the girls in Lili's living room. By now, Vash, brothers of the girls there, and a few parents had arrived after seeing the ambulance.

"Since we don't know what happened, and as far as we've heard Sarah's parents aren't pressing charges, Natalya will not be punished. For now, girls, pack your things and go home," she said flatly.

"See ya Monday," Amunet said, trying to lighten the mood as the two left.

Little by little, everyone did leave, except Natalya and Katyusha who were finishing packing. Vash watched Natalya carefully, wary of her every move. Lili held the door open as the two left. Katyusha walked out first and headed to her car. Natalya stopped at the door and looked at Lili sadly. Natalya wanted to say she was sorry, even though she didn't know what for. She wanted to do something that would make this better, but she had no idea what. Instead, she simply looked at Lili and said simply, "Sorry... Goodbye."

"Goodbye," Lili said. Natalya looked at the ground, nodded, and walked out the door. Lili closed the door and looked at her brother. "I'm going to my room now. I'll clean up the kitchen and the basement tomorrow."

"I'll do it for you. Just get some sleep," Vash said. Lili nodded and walked up the stairs.

Walking into her room, she saw the scrapbook. She kicked it under her bed in sadness and anger. She fell onto her bed and buried her face in the pillows. Eventually, she fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Katyusha walked over to Natalya house to check up on her. She stepped inside the house and noted that the heat was turned off. _Why would the heat be off? It's too cold in the morning to leave it like that._ She looked around the living room and found it devoid of any signs of life. A few photographs were gone from the the living room and the kitchen was empty except a few things in the fridge.

Then Katyusha walked upstairs to Natalya's room. The bed was bare except for a sheet and dull pillows, Natalya's cell phone wasn't there, and neither was the charger. Katyusha scanned the room as best she could. The laptop, its charger, most of Natalya's winter and fall clothes were missing as well. Looking at the bedside table, Katyusha saw a small letter. She picked it up, and, assuming the worst, mentally begged that it wasn't some sort of suicide note. In dark blue ink, it read:

_Dear Katyusha (as I'm sure you'll be the first one to find this letter),_

_ Do not panic. I'm perfectly fine. I'm heading to our parent's house back in Russia for a while. I need to think some things through and get away from everyone for a while._

_ I didn't stab Sarah. Please believe me on that, dear sister..._

_ I won't miss anything at school; I'll be going to school there for a while. I'll come back for Christmas, but I don't know yet if I'll be staying or not after that. Goodbye for now. Please tell the others I said goodbye to them as well. See you around Christmas, Katyusha._

_ With hope,_

_ Natalya Braginski

* * *

_

Lili, unaware of Katyusha frantically calling and texting the news to the others, had bundled up and headed outside. Numb, not out of cold but heartache that she couldn't understand, she headed to the one place she knew she could be alone. She walked through the bushes and into the old playground. Lili sat down in the swing and slowly looked at the other next to her. A bouquet of dead roses lay there, without a card tied to it or anything. Without knowing exactly why, Lili finally broke down and cried her heart out.

* * *

On a plane, far away, Natalya stared out the window. For the most part, she was alone, and the few passengers that were on the plane as well were asleep. She couldn't scream or sob without waking someone up, but for now she allowed silent tears to fall like rain.

* * *

**So, how'd you like part 2? Real angsty huh? Meh.**

**A look into Anna's mind. I wonder if it helped or hurt your understanding of her. Meh. Don't worry, there will be answers to all of your questions eventually. :3**

**Reviews are love~**


	13. The Aftermath

Natalya looked at her phone as she waited for her parents to arrive at the terminal. Texts from..._ my friends? Can I even call them that anymore?_ She didn't reply to any, but she couldn't just ignore them. Scrolling through the texts, she noted that none were from Lili. _Is she still mad at me? Must be..._ Trying not to linger on the thought, Natalya switched to trying to figure out all the emotions in her head.

* * *

Whatever chaos was occurring in Natalya's mind as her thoughts collided was equaled by the emotional chaos going on in St. Hetalia with the girls most affected by the recent turn of events. At the Scandinavian Cafe, Elizaveta was trying to calm Katyusha, without much success. Chelle and Bella watched silently, adding a word in here and there. Lili sat at the edge of the booth, avoiding all contact. Tino came over to table, offering hot chocolate.

"It's still cold; are you sure you don't want anything? Food always helps. Katyusha? I could make you some Keiv cake. Ivan said that you liked it."

Katyusha sniffed. "I guess it might help calm my nerves."

Tino smiled pitifully. "There you go. Anything you want Elizaveta? Chelle? Bella?" All three shook their heads no. "How about you Lili? Vash mentioned once that you like cheese fondu."

"Not hungry," Lili said quietly.

"You sure? Food can help heal hurt-"

"I'm not hurt," she said somewhat forcefully.

Tino nodded and bit his lip before moving on to the next table.

Katyusha looked at Lili. "Are you okay? You've barely said a thing since we got here."

"She has a point Lili. You don't look so good. Did you sleep at all last night?" Chelle said, concerned for her friend, as were Bella and Elizaveta.

"I'm fine," Lili said. "I need to go home now. I have work to do. I'll see ya later." She stood and walked out of the cafe before another word could be said.

Tino noted Lili's departure as he returned to the table with Katyusha's cake. "Be patient with her. You can only deny something like pain for so long."

Katyusha sniffed once again as she took the cake from him. "I hope you're right, Tino. I hope you're right."

* * *

Natalya fell into her old bed. Now that she had unpacked, there was truly nothing left to do. She knew her parents' schedules enough to know that both of them were very busy throughout the week. It was the main reason she and her siblings had left them in the first place. Right now, though, it just meant Natalya could think without interruptions.

She closed her eyes and tried to keep her thoughts under control. _Where do I start? I suppose just by stating the problem. But what is the problem? That Lili doesn't like me? That it looks like I stabbed someone? That I still can't quite figure out my feelings for Lili or that I can't even tell her what my feelings are? I don't even want to think about how screwed up this whole situation is._

_ Let's start at the beginning I guess. What do I feel... about... Lili...?_

Before Natalya could continue her thoughts, she dozed off. Word of the wise, never think with your eyes closed for too long. Especially after a long plane ride. For better or for worse, Natalya slept for now.

* * *

Sarah lay in the hospital bed. Anna sat next to her, applauding their success with a strange type of sick happiness.

"She totally fled the country! It's better than I had hoped. Once you get out of here, we need to work on our next target. Who do you think we should go after next?"

"Anna, I think we need to secure who we can truly trust. But first I think there needs to be an exchange of information. I need you to explain how Ally and Cammy came to be part of our group. Then I'll tell you what I learned about Cammy."

Anna smiled deviously and patted Sarah on the head. "Fine. But only because you pulled out that comment about how you said something about Ivan. That was icing on the cake.

"Ally was easy. Her last school picked on her too much, so she was absolutely afraid of the same thing happening at St. Hetalia. All I had to do was tell her that I could keep her from getting picked on and she was done for. I can't trust her to do what you've done, but she's willing to do just a little bit. I don't know about Cammy. She just joined after Ally. I tried finding something to work with, but I just couldn't. I don't trust her, so I had you get those papers. Did you ever find something?"

Sarah nodded. "Yes. Do you know what was listed as her parents' names?" Anna shook her head, no. "Mr. Tommy and Mr. Phil McMillan."

Anna looked shocked for a moment before smirking. "It's better than I expected. I'll take it you have a plan?"

Sarah smirked back. In all honesty, at the night of the party, Sarah's patience dwindled. She mentally decided that her Angel would never come back. Her reaction? She became the devil side of herself as well. To put it in some terms, Devil Anna had offered her the poison, and she had drank deep. When Angel didn't come back to her, she went over to the side of the devil. She wasn't as far into it as Anna, but she was much less resistant than before.

"My plan is simple. Let's just ask if we can go home with her after school. She won't be able to say no forever, and you know it. Once she's exposed we turn Ally against her. It's obvious she likes Ally, making her just as gay as her foster parents."

Anna smiled coyly. "And if Ally doesn't go against her."

Sarah smiled back. "Then you remind her why she's with us in the first place. After that, she won't go against us at all."

Anna laughed sickly. "Perfect. Sarah, you have passed my wildest expectations." She looked at the clock. "Why don't you get some sleep? I'll work on getting everything into place and we'll make it happen Monday."

Sarah nodded. "Bye~" _Bye_, _my cute little devil.

* * *

_

Not so far away, Cammy was talking with Ally on the phone. Ally sat upside-down on her bed, staring at her ceiling. "I'm telling you, Ally, Anna's up to something. She _was_ up to something Friday night. I felt it and I feel it now."

"Cammy, calm down. You're just being paranoid. Anna's a great girl!" Cammy mentally winced. _I don't think that anyone outside our group would agree._ "Did you see her when Sarah was stabbed? She was more worried than anyone! Natalya's lucky that Bella and Elizaveta were able to hold her down!"

"But-" Cammy began.

"You don't believe it happened that way?"

"No, but-"

"What could have happened?" Ally said with growing hysteria in her voice. "Sarah stab herself? Get real!"

"Ally!" Cammy said, trying to calm her friend. The two were silent for a few moments. "Um... did you see the new episode of-"

"Yeah! The one with the cake? And that girl-"

"I still can't believe she did that! And with him!"

"Meh, I thought he was kinda cute. Not enough for what she did, but enough to see why the other one-"

"The blonde that turned out to be gay?"

"No! The brunette with the tiny puppy dog."

"Ah... that was such a cute dog wasn't it?"

So as the conversation spiraled into one only the two girls understood, Cammy mentally congratulated the fact that Ally was easily distracted and begged that she would forgive her for this later.

* * *

As the aftermath continued, the only thing that could possibly be said for sure was that this was nowhere near the end.

* * *

**Sorry this chap is a bit late. I was busy with Thankgiving and all that. It was hard to get away form my cousins long enough to work on this. Anyway, moving on.**

**How I picture the Scandinavia Cafe:**

**The place where the residents of St. Hetalia pretty much flock to on a daily basis. While most of the dishes are Scandinavian, a few extra things have been added to suit the needs of some customers. Hey, what can you do when you live in a town where every is literally from all over the world? Sweden, and sometimes Norway, Iceland, and Finland cook, but usually it's just Sweden cooking with Finland taking orders. Denmark couldn't behave well enough to do either, so meh. With all the people flocking to this place, and Tino taking orders all the time, he picked up on a lot of gossip and little tidbits that he uses to his advantage- usually by offering his customers their favorite foods and offering a little advice here and there.**

**To put it bluntly as to what's happening to Sarah: before, Sarah could keep the worst of Anna at bay, but now... basically the two could unleash hell on St. Hetalia.**

**As far as Ally goes, no she's not an idiot... she's just been played like a pawn a lot and like Cammy said, easily distracted. Don't worry, she'll have her moment, just wait. At some point I realized that she and Cammy haven't had that big a part lately, so I figured I'd squeeze them in some more.**

**Wow, long A/N... haha... Reviews are love~**


	14. The Unraveling Part 1

By the eighteenth of December, two weeks after Natalya left and , Elizaveta, Bella, Chelle and Katyusha were starting to get really worried about Lili. If anyone asked, she faked a smile and said she was fine, when she clearly wasn't. Lili refused to do anything but go to school. Several times the girls had asked if she would like to come over to their houses, but each time she refused. Finally, they decided it was time to face the problem head on.

Saturday, they walked to Lili's house and knocked on the door. Vash opened it and let the four in. He looked at Elizaveta. "So you've noticed it too, huh?"

Elizaveta nodded. "And we plan to do something about it."

* * *

Not so far away, Sarah and ASC were setting their plan in motion. For two weeks, Cammy had avoided letting the three come over, but now there were no excuses left to try without seeming suspicious.

Anna drove Sarah and Ally to Cammy's house on Saturday for lunch. After hopping out of the car, Anna walked right to the door and let herself in. Sarah followed right behind her with Ally speeding up just a bit to keep up. The first thing Anna noted was a tall man on the couch.

Sarah smiled. "Hello. We're here for lunch. I'm Sarah, this is Anna or ASC, and this is Ally."

The tall, skinny man stood. "Hi there. My name's Phil. My brother Tommy is outside cooking the steaks. Cammy's in the dining room fixing the table. I'll take you there." The girls followed him down the hallway. While Anna and Sarah and had their eyes locked on Phil, Ally was looking around.

"Wow, Cammy's house is so nice," she said, but no one seemed to hear her. Phil opened a light blue door and led them into the dining room. Cammy was setting the table for six. Ally rushed forward. "Hey, Cammy. What's for lunch?"

"Dad's making steak. Pa- Uncle made cake for dessert. They're both really good cooks."

Phil laughed. "Runs in the family I suppose." Cammy and Ally laughed as well. Sarah just smiled as she took her seat. Anna sat next to her and warily observed the situation.

A shorter man with more muscles than the other one walked in carrying a plate of steaks. "I hope you're ready for lunch," he said, taking a seat. As he put a steak on each plate and handed them out, Sarah started her questioning.

"So Cammy, why isn't your mom here?" she asked.

"She had to work today," Cammy answered calmly.

"Oh really, what does she do?" Anna asked.

"My wife's a nurse," Tommy answered. Anna nodded.

"If you don't mind me asking, Cammy, why don't you look more like your dad? I can't see even a trace of him in you, which is strange," Sarah said.

"I got nearly all my traits from my mom. And I do have a few traits like my dad, but they're very faint," Cammy answered with growing suspicion.

As lunch continued, most of the conversation consisted of Anna's and Sarah's questions. Finally, they all finished and the girls headed to Cammy's room. Anna glanced at Sarah as the two walked up the stairs. Her eyes begged the question of why their plan wasn't working. Sarah replied with a simple nod, as if teller her to just be patient.

As they walked in the door, Sarah looked around the room. As the other girls talked, she noted two tiny little pictures on a high shelf in the corner. As she walked over to it, Cammy seem shocked for a moment before regaining herself. "What are you doing, Sarah? That shelf's just full of old books."

"Oh really?" Sarah asked as she pulled down two photos and showed them to the other girls. The first photograph was a man with short blonde hair and woman with long red hair. In between them was a three-year old girl with long red hair and glasses. In the second photograph were Phil and Tommy from earlier, holding each other like a couple, with ten-year old Cammy between them.

Anna smiled devilishly. "Explain this, will you Cammy?"

* * *

Elizaveta opened the door to Lili's room. Lili lay on the bed, her head under the pillows. "Go away," she mumbled.

"Not this time," Bella said. She dragged Lili out from under the pillows.

"You can't stay like this Lili. You're not you anymore," Chelle insisted.

"I'm fine," Lili said, wiping her eyes.

Elizaveta pulled her up and pointed her toward the mirror. "Look at yourself! You've had bags under your eyes every since Natalya left! You've bitten your nails, your hair isn't ever quite right anymore, and you haven't even laughed a bit since! You're not fine!"

"Why shouldn't I be? Just because Natalya left? Just because she lied to me? I don't care!" Lili said, shying away from the mirror.

"She left just so she could think things out! She didn't want to drag anyone else into it so she left!" Katyusha said. "She never lied. We can't know what exactly happened, but that doesn't make her a liar!"

"How do you-"

"She left a letter. Katyusha tried to tell you this and give it to you, but you wouldn't listen," Bella said.

Elizaveta looked at Lili. "Have you even looked through that scrapbook of yours? That alone should give you all the answers."

"It doesn't matter!" Lili said quietly. "There are no more flowers, so I don't need a scrapbook for them."

"Think Lili! When did those flowers stop?" Elizaveta said, shaking Lili by the shoulders.

"I don't want to hear it!" Lili fell on her knees and cried. "Just leave me alone. There's nothing wrong, there's nothing to fix! None of it even matters, and nothing of this has to do with Natalya!"

"Lili-" Chelle began. Bella took her hand and shook her head.

Slowly the girls left, Katyusha being the last. She put the letter on Lili's bed before following Elizaveta out, closing the door as she did.

* * *

Cammy looked down. "Tell me then, what do you get out of those pictures?"

"That those men in there are not your parents, they're gay for each other and that the people in this first photo are your real parents. Your choice whether you want to tell the rest or not," Sarah said.

Cammy laughed. "Let's get this over with. The sooner I do, the sooner I can get back to the way I used to be, huh?" She looked up and smiled somewhat. "My parents died when I was five; there was a storm and a car slid into theirs. I survived somehow. The closest relative I had was who I call Dad now, Tommy. He was already married to Papa, or Phil, at the time. When we moved to St. Hetalia and I joined this group, I knew you didn't approve, and by all means I didn't and still don't give a damn." Cammy stopped smiling and her tone turned serious. "I only joined this at all because I liked Ally."

Ally looked at Cammy. "Y-you mean it?"

"It doesn't matter. All gays should die and burn in hell," Anna said. "And Ally, unless you want a repeat of the last school you went to, I suggest you keep your mouth shut."

"Ally, I don't know what happened then, but I can tell it wasn't good. St. Hetalia is different, believe me. Besides, this time is different because you have me don't you?" Cammy asked. "You can't possibly stop being my friend just because she doesn't approve. You're not happy, I'm not happy, so why stay?"

"I-I..." Ally began.

"Choose wisely. You know the consequences," Sarah said.

Ally paused. After a moment, she stood up and took off her heels. "You can have them back. I'll drop the rest of the crap you had me wear by your houses later."

Anna stood, heels in hand, and stormed out of the room. Sarah stood calmly and looked at Ally. "You chose wrong, something you'll soon learn." With that, she left.

* * *

Anna sat in her car in the driveway to her house. "How could it fail?"

"Maybe we underestimated how close they were?" Sarah suggested. "At the very least we now know we can't trust them, which means we can only trust each other."

Anna sighed. "Yes, but still..."

Sarah looked at her. "What?"

"Sometimes it just seems... like it's not quite right," Anna said, staring out the window.

Sarah's cried out with hope. _No, don't hope. It's just a moment, let it pass. It hurts to hope, so just don't hope... but what would it hurt to just try this once?_ "Maybe you're just remembering some things. Christmas is a time for miracles after all."

Anna shrugged. "Maybe... maybe."

* * *

**Not really much to say except that part 2 will be posted next week. Didn't I say Ally would have her moment? Now if you excuse me, it's 1 PM, I havent had lunch or breakfast, so I'll get on that while you read this chap. Enjoy~**

**Reviews are love~ **


	15. The Unraveling Part 2

As the four girls- Chelle, Elizaveta, Katyusha and Bella- walked home, Chelle couldn't help but glance weakly at her friends, trying to understand what just happened.

"Could someone please explain what we just did? It looks like we did more harm than help..."

"I know what you mean.." Bella said.

"..and we all hated to walk away without helping her more, but..." Elizaveta sighed.

"..she cried. That's all that had to happen," Katyusha said sadly.

"Why?" Chelle asked. "It doesn't make sense."

"She's crying because she's hurting now. Lili can't ignore her own pain anymore, so now she has to face it," Elizaveta replied.

"Then why aren't we there with her? Doesn't she need us now?"

Katyusha stopped and looked back at Lili's house. "Yes and no. She does need us, but we're not supposed to help her. If we help her, she'll just ignore her pain all over again. So no, right now she doesn't need us."

Chelle looked back at her. "...She needs Natalya... doesn't she?"

Without saying a word, all four girls continued on their way home.

* * *

Sarah looked at Anna, who still sat there quietly in the driver's seat of her car. "Hey. Sarah?"

"Y-yes?"

"Do they all hate me?" Anna asked.

"Does it matter? I don't hate yo-"

"Why don't you? I know I'm not right, but I can't tell what _is_ right. So why do you still like me when everyone else doesn't?"

Sarah looked at her, even though Anna was just staring at the steering wheel of her car. "Because I remember. I remember who you used to be. I remember how _we_ used to be. For that girl, I'd do anything, even when she doesn't remember who she's supposed to be."

Anna glanced at Sarah. "Who am I supposed to be then?"

Sarah stared back at her. She slid her heels off as she put her knees in her seat and leaned across to look at Anna. "I'll show you..."

With one swift motion she had grabbed Anna's wrist, pulled her up out of her seat just a bit, and pinned her hands to the cold, foggy window with Sarah's legs trapping Anna's in place. "It's selfish, but I personally like that no one ever truly liked you as I do. As sick as it is, it meant I had you all to myself."

Anna looked at Sarah, a mixture of betrayal, shock and fear all rolled into one on her face. Only now did it occur to her that Sarah was a few inches taller than her. _But I never remember looking up to her... Wait! My heels always were higher than hers by a good bit! How did I not notice?_

Sarah Lee's face was close to Anna's chest, her breath causing Anna's whole chest to heat up and her heart to beat faster than it ever had. "Did it never make you wonder why you've never had a boyfriend, even though you're a senior? You have the body of goddess and, by all means, you flaunt it, so why haven't you had a boyfriend? Because you were never interested in guys at all, even though you acted like it. Did you ever wonder why I never got a boyfriend? Because the whole time, I was waiting for you. Now, I can't wait anymore. Please forgive me for this."

With that, Sarah looked up at Anna. Slowly, her lips met Anna's. In one instant, Anna's heart waged war with her head. Her heart wanted this, more than anything. It longed for the love it had never truly received. Yet, her mind told her to reject this, in every way possible.

_Then, she heard a laugh, different than the screams she used to hear, but from the same source.. She turned around, looking in places she'd been to afraid to look at for several years, places that were usually full of fog. It was perfectly clear. An angel sat there, laughing with joyous tears on her cheeks. The scars on the angel were plain to see, some old but most new, but yet, she laughed._

With that, Anna made her decision.

* * *

Lili blinked a few times at the scene around her._ Strange. The trees here look a lot bigger than they should be._ She looked around and noted a small movement that occurred with every move of her head. Looking down, she noted that her hair was braided. _I cut my hair soon after we all moved away from St. Hetalia, so why is it braided?_

Before she could fully comprehend what was going on, her legs were moving forward, and suddenly Lili felt sad. As the trees cleared, she began to see a broken old asphalt path. As she walked down it, she started to see the old playground, with its two old swings swaying gently. She had to hop up to sit in the swing.

"Now how do I swing on my own again? Kick my legs? Or was that swimming? Better just try and see," Lili said. _But that's not my voice, at least not currently. I must be having some memory of when I was younger. That would explain a few things._ The younger girl kicked her legs back and forth clumsily, only moving an inch or two because of her thrashing. Finally, settling for a calmer approach, she kicked her legs back and forth, but both were going the opposite direction, moving her even less than before.

A rustle in the bushes behind her and the feeling of being watched caused her to turn around as best she could while still sitting in the swing. Her eyes locked with those of a girl who seemed to be the same age as Lili at the time if not older by a year or two. _There's something familiar about her..._

"Hello. My name's Lili. What's yours?" the younger Lili asked. _Wait a minute... platinum blonde hair and dark blue eyes?... It can't be..._

"I'm Natalya. Nice to meet you."

"Natalya.." the younger Lili said, the scene fading along with her voice. "That's a pretty name."

* * *

Lili gasped and opened her eyes. Her room was dark, the only light being the bit of moonlight that streamed in through the window. She wasn't cold, but she shook anyway. _Just a dream, just a dream..._ she thought, begging it to be true. _But it wasn't... If it were a dream, I wouldn't remember what happened after that so clearly. How could I have forgotten?..._ Sitting up, she noticed that she was still on her bedroom floor. She mentally noted that she must have fallen asleep crying. Lili felt around for the lamp on her bedside table and turned it on.

With a growing sense of fear and sadness, she looked under her bed and then at the left behind letter lying on her pillows. With trembling hands, she grabbed the book that had become so familiar to her over these past few months. _Has it really been only a few months? Feels like it lasted so much longer than that._ Swallowing her fear, she opened it an turned to the first page.

It began with that first flower, the blue rosemary along with a page full of her questions about the flower. As she flipped through pages, the photos practically came to life. There was first day of cheer-leading tryouts in which she could practically smell the freshly waxed gym and the stench of sweat, almost hear Natalya's voice in what Lili had assumed had been their first full conversation. Then there was the mall trip, with photographs of the dresses they had tried on and of Natalya brushing her hair, a sensation she could recall clearly. Next was a page or two about the slumber party with less photographs than the mall, but more of a diary entry than anything, ending with the pink eucalyptus. Lili could still remember the taste of that breakfast they made. Then there was her fall, with few photographs truthfully, mostly just an entry with the purple hyacinth. She remembered the way her head had hurt when she woke up, but she also remembered the how disappointed Natalya sounded when she said that she wouldn't be coming to see Lili. Then there was the Halloween party, with LOTS of pictures, a long entry, and a violet viscaria. She could still feel herself dancing with Wolf. There was the time when she got sick and mint was let on her window sill. Lili faintly recalled Natalya being the one to stay to help her until Vash got home.

That was it. The last entry was just about her excitement for the slumber party. She hadn't touched the scrapbook since. Lili had stomped on the withered flowers after seeing them.

Without realizing it, Lili had begun to cry. Numbly, she placed the scrapbook down and looked at the letter. Her hands shook as she picked it up and read it. Only when tears hit the paper did she truly hear her sobs. Setting the letter aside, Lili jumped up and ran out of her room. Barely remembering to close the door on her way out, she ran out of her house, out into the cold, nighttime street.

* * *

**Sorry for the late update! On Friday I was too busy doing a science study guide-5 chapters, I dont even know how many vocab words which were only counted in one question per chap, so all in all 32 questions that required a paragraph each to answer. Got it Friday and it's due Tuesday as a test grade. Took me till midnight to finish it. On Saturday there was an adult's christmas party at the church that a good bit of the youth group attended as waiters in order to help pay for a ski trip we're going on from December 31 to January 4? 3 maybe? Meh you get the idea. Spent almost four hours there. Started with putting frozen rolls on trays, and then watching them bake. As soon as they were done, we served them to the adults as they arrived. As the night went on, I ended up refilling who knows how many drinks, putting together some deserts, asking every table if they needed any more sauce for their shrimp, cleaning off tables in the kitchen, putting away utensils and cup-like things in boxes, putting up chairs, and various other tiny things. On the bright side, after all the adults were served and they were playing some game with presents, the people in the kitchen got to eat. Oh how I loved the shrimp~**

**Anyway~ moving on! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. For some reason, I kept getting the plot bunny of Sarah pinning Anna down, thus leading to their little moment. Originally, it was just the two talking, but it kinda developed differently than expected. Hehe... Let's see, what else?**

**There will be a part 3 for this chap next week.**

**Hope you liked it, and if it sucks plz don't kill me. **hides****


	16. The Unraveling Part 3

Natalya had thought about everything and everyone in the time she was away from St. Hetalia. All in all, she knew there was only one thing she could do that might fix things and that was tell Lili how she felt. Even it if didn't change a thing, Natalya still had to say it. As she tried to form a small plan of how she would go about it, the taxi cab she was in came to a stop.

"Here we are miss. You sure you don't want me to take you any farther? It is pretty late," the driver said.

Natalya shook her head. "I'll be fine." Pulling her luggage off the floor, she stepped out of the cab. Only after it was gone did she turn toward the town that lay in front of her. A small sign was lit by three lights pointed at it to her left. Natalya had to smile at what it had painted on it.

"All too true..." she said. With that, Natalya took her first step back home, leaving behind a sign that read **"St. Hetalia: Where No One Is Normal."

* * *

**

Lili ran, barely noticing the cold that nipped at her. Without hesitation, she ran into two bare bushes, shoving the small branches aside with her arms. Lili continued on with scratches dotting her arms and twigs poking into her feet. Just when the playground was in sight, a small brier caught her dress and she fell.

Once she had stopped moving, everything caught up to her. Lili felt the scrapes on her arms, the small scratches and dirt on her feet, but most of all she felt the cold. Despite the trees around her, the wind howled relentlessly, blowing into her dress as if it wasn't even there. Every part of her felt an aching numbness.

With nothing else to do, she sobbed. Why not? No one was around to hear her, and Lili truly felt helpless. "All along... All along, she loved me, but I couldn't see it... I'm so stupid! I was even so mean to her at the party... I truly be-believed she did it... I'm sorry...I'm sorry," she said between sobs.

Lili didn't hear the footsteps, didn't feel someone free her dress from the brier, until someone draped a coat on her shoulders and asked, "Are you alright?"

* * *

Natalya had been walking home, when she looked in the general direction of the playground. _It wouldn't hurt just to stop by..._ Soon she was walking down the old asphalt path, when Natalya thought she heard someone crying. She was still for just a moment before finding the location of the weeping, a small blonde girl in a pink and purple dress. "Are you alright?" she asked Lili.

Lili sniffled and looked up. "N-Natalya..."

Natalya gulped and nodded. Leaning down, she looked at Lili. "Lili, what happened? You're hurt. Should I go get help or-"

Before she could continue, Lili wrapped her arms around Natalya's neck and began sobbing again. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Lili, calm down. Why are you apologizing?" Natalya asked.

"For being so mean to you, for forgetting that you're my friend, and for everything! I'm sorry!"

Natalya looked at Lili. "You have nothing to apologize for, understand? Now let's get you someplace warm." She picked Lili up bridal style and walked out of the small forest. Lili looked up at her as they made it to the main street.

Voicing a question that had been on her mind just a bit, she asked, "How come you never told me... that you were sending me flowers?"

* * *

Sarah pulled away from the other girl. "Anna...?" She moved to open the car door. "I'll just walk home then.."

"No. We're going to your house. Your parents aren't home, right?" Anna said as she sat up and started the car.

Sarah looked at Anna, confused. "Yeah, visiting my grandmother. Why?"

"Right now, we just need to go someplace where we can talk alone," she said. Sarah sat there as they drove the two blocks to her house. After walking in and setting on the couch, Sarah made hot chocolate for the two of them. Finally, they both sat on the couch in the living room.

"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" Sarah asked.

"I remember... Enough to remember who I am, but not all that happened before that year. You can tell me as much as you want, but only after I tell you what you don't know yet...

"After you left, my mom did what she always did whenever it seemed I was too happy to be with you. Do you remember that form of torture where they tied someone down and dunked buckets of water on their heads in order to make them believe that they were drowning?"

Sarah stared at Anna with both shock and fear. "They didn't..."

"They did. It only ever left mental scars, nothing visible. Some teachers commented on my fear of water, but my parents just claimed it was a phase. They were and are extremely homophobic, so to cover it up they just claim to be very religious."

"Then why live in a town like this?" Sarah asked. "Almost all of the people we go to school with are gay."

"When they first moved here, everyone _seemed_ straight. That didn't change until a few people in this generation started it in this town. From there, people could be more open about it. When they realized that there was a chance of me turning gay, they decided to do whatever they could to keep me straight. So when I kissed you, they decided to take drastic measures.

"They rented a cabin far out in the woods and made it look like they were buying things for me to go camping with. They took the usual things a person might take on a camping trip: put together tent, matches, knives, and rope. We never left that cabin.

"They would start the day by tying me to a chair and running an icy cold shower. For half and hour they would let me sit there. Then they would ask me question after question. If I got any single one wrong, they beat me with one of the plastic poles from the tent. That in of itself lasted for several hours. If they believed I did well enough, I got to eat. If not, I didn't. For the first month, I lived on the minimum of what a person could eat and still live."

"But you were only thirteen! Oh, Anna, I never knew. I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize; you didn't do it... When I finally began showing 'improvement', I was given more food and was beat less. I heard screams in my head. Whenever I mentioned it, my mom just said it was the devil inside me dying. Now I see that it was an angel instead. Finally, instinct took over and my mind did what it had to. It forget exactly what it was told to forget. I forgot who I was entirely.

"My bruises healed and I got a new look. It was supposed to get guys to come to me, supposedly making sure I stayed straight. I can't go back there now that I remember. I just can't," Anna said. "That's my story I guess. But I still don't remember it all, so could you please tell me."

Sarah nodded. "I'll tell you everything, but first, answer one thing for me."

"Anything."

"Do you still... love me?"

Anna smiled. She leaned over and kissed Sarah on the cheek. "That answer your question, Dandelion?"

"Perfectly, Angel. Perfectly."

* * *

Natalya looked at Lili. "You know?"

"I figured it out when I looked back at my scrapbook... How come you didn't just tell me?" Lili asked.

Natalya paused. "I was... afraid, I guess. At first, I was afraid of you not liking me at all. When we started to become friends, I was afraid of risking that by telling you that I was sending the flowers."

"... Thank you," Lili said.

"For what?"

"The flowers, and for just being here to help me."

Natalya bit her lip before replying. "So... since you know.. what do you think?" When silence was the only answer, she looked down and saw Lili, deep in thought.

"I.. I think... I love you."

Natalya smiled. "Thank you. Now let's go home."

Lili smiled back before closed her eyes. "Sounds perfect. Just perfect."

* * *

**For those who don't know, a 'brier' is basically a vine with thorns. The small ones are the ones to fear, those things can snag almost anything and you won't really know it till you feel a thorn poking you. At least the bigger ones are easy to avoid. Those are my experiences at least.**

**No, this is not the end. The next chapter will be the finale of Flowers. **

**I'm sorry if this is a bit late, but my big brother came back from basic training and, truthfully, I've been kinda lazy lately (so sue me, it's Christmas break!).**

**I wanna say more, but I'll save it for the next chap.**

**I hope you enjoyed it~**


	17. Fate

Katyusha stood on the tips of her toes as she wrapped garland around the tall evergreen tree. Elizaveta stood next to her, handing her the shiny strands with a pout on her face.

"Don't be so upset. The coin flip was fair and square. We put up a few decorations and the tree then add the garland, Bella and Chelle will put on the ornaments, and Natalya and Lili will put on the star," Katyusha said. "And whoever isn't working has to help cook."

"I know, but I really wanted to do the star... We're at house, so you could've said something."

Katyusha rolled her eyes and laughed. "Anyway, have you heard about Anna?"

"Yeah," Elizaveta answered. "I hope the whole legal thing goes well."

"Even if it doesn't, she can be on her own. Sarah doesn't seem to mind Anna staying at her house for a while," Katyusha said, still wrapping garland onto the tree.

"How are Cammy and Ally?"

"Anna's working on being friends with them again. They all look a lot better now. More..."

"Real?" Elizaveta supplied.

"Exactly," she said. Katyusha wiped her hands off on the front of her dress. "Well, that's all the garland. I'll go get Bella and Chelle-"

"Wait a second, Kat. I think we're forgetting one of the decorations~" Elizaveta said coyly.

"Oh? And which one would that be?" Katyusha asked with growing suspicion.

Elizaveta held up a small bundle of mistletoe. "I believe tradition calls for a kiss."

Katyusha smiled. "Just a peck. We have work to do." Elizaveta shrugged before leaning in and kissing Katyusha.

"Hey, lovebirds!" Bella called. "If your done making out, it's our turn!"

Elizaveta pulled away with a sigh. "Bella, how long have you two been standing there?"

Chelle laughed. "Long enough to see the kiss. We figured you were about done by now."

Katyusha blushed. "We'll, uh, be in the kitchen then. C'mon Liz."

Bella laughed as the two walked away. "Can you believe those two sometimes? It's like they can't get enough of each other."

Chelle opened up one box of ornaments. "They're in love. What do you expect? Give it at least five years and I'd bet all my fish that they'll be married."

Bella took two and hooked them onto the tree. "All your fish? Wow."

"Speaking of fish, did you ever find a good recipe?"

Bella nodded. "Yeah, something about salmon with a white chocolate sauce. We can make it tomorrow. I'd invite you to stay the night in the tree house, but it's way too cold for that."

Chelle hooked on a few more ornaments, a blush creeping onto her face as she said her next few words. "I could always stay in your room. That is, if you don't mind sharing a bed."

Bella laughed. "I don't think I'd mind at all, seashell."

Chelle stuck her tongue out at the taller blonde. "Must you call me seashell?"

"As long as you get to call me Cocoa, I get to call you seashell," Bella retorted.

"I know, but-" _Crack. _"Ouch!"

"Are you okay?" Bella asked, leaning over to look at Chelle.

"I'm fine. One of the balls just dropped and broke. I think there's a small cut on my foot though," Chelle said.

"Sit down and let me look," Bella said, nearing the shorter brunette.

"No, I'm fine-"

"Let me look!"

"No!"

Needless to say, two people can only back up so far before bumping into something. Chelle backed into the side of the couch, fell back onto the pillows, and grabbed Bella's shirt in an attempt to not fall, which just resulted in making Bella fall on top of her.

Chelle blushed. "I-I'm sorry. I-"

Bella hopped up and snatched Chelle's foot. "Ha! Gotcha!" She peered at the small cut for a moment before wiping off the one drop of blood with her sleeve. Chelle laughed.

"That tickles!" she said.

Bella smirked. "Oh~ You're ticklish?"

"Oh, no. Please Bella don't-" Chelle began, but was quickly stopped by her own laughter as the blonde tickled her feet mercilessly. "Hahaha! Stop!"

"Say please~"

"Please! Stop!" Bella smiled before letting the smaller girl go.

"I'll clean up the glass, and you go tell Natalya and Lili that we're done," she said.

"Fine," Chelle said with a pout. She stood up and walked down the hallway. Soon she smelled all the food cooking in the kitchen, from ham and turkey to pecan pie and banana pudding. Walking through the door, she noted the four girls rushing between the dining room and the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Chelle. Dinner's almost ready," Lili said.

"We're setting the table now," Katyusha said, carrying two pies into the dining room.

"I just came to say that Bella and I are done," she said.

Lili nodded. "Great. The cooking was finished a bit earlier than expected, so go get Bella and we'll sit down and eat."

"Do you have chocolate cake?"

"Yeah."

"Then she should be here any second now," Chelle said with a laugh. Lili smiled before carrying a stack of plates into the dining room. She began placing the plates just as Natalya was setting down a bowl of mashed potatoes.

"Need help?" she asked.

"Yeah. How many people are coming anyway?"

"My brother Ivan, Cloe, her brother, Monica, Lien, Mei, and one of their cousins," Natalya said.

"Will we have enough food?" Lili said, somewhat jokingly.

"I'm sure we will. The others usually bring a little something. By the way, will Vash be coming?"

"No. He went to a Christmas party with Roderich."

As the last plate was set, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Katyusha called.

She opened the door and in walked Ivan, followed by Toris. "Hello Katyusha. I hope you don't mind, but I invited Toris."

Katyusha smiled. "It's perfectly fine. Come on in."

The two walked in, shaking off a bit of snow. "I brought some cake, Katyusha," Toris said.

"Thank you. I'll go put it in the dining room. Make yourselves comfortable," she said before walking back down the hallway. The brunette Lithuanian shrugged his jacket off and hung it on the coat hanger.

"The tree is nice, da?" the taller man said.

"Yes, Ivan. Why don't we go to the dining room and take a seat before more people show up?" The tall Russian seemed to think the question over for a moment before walking down the hallway. _He really is like a child sometimes, _Toris thought.

As the two looked over the food and took their seats, yet again the doorbell rang. This time Bella answered it. "Hey! Come on in! Nice to see ya."

Cloe walked in and wiped the snow off of her. "It's so much warmer back in Australia."

"Yes, you and your brother have said that about a thousand times already," Monica said, slipping off her wet shoes and coat.

"Oi, it's not our fault it's cold. Ain't that right, Monty?" Cloe's brother said, referring to his little koala.

"Zane, why'd you bring that evil koala?" Bella asked.

"He's not evil, just.."

"Devilish?" Monica offered.

"Satanic?" Cloe suggested.

"Hellish?" Bella asked.

"I was gonna say mischievous," Zane said irritably.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Just go to the dining room." Before she was even able to shut the front door, Lien, Mei and their cousin, who wore maroon and carried a panda bear, were standing in the doorway. "Hey Lien! Hey Mei! Which of your cousins is this?"

"Bella, this is Hong. He's the quiet type," Mei said. Hong walked past her and right into the living room.

"A bit rude..." Bella mumbled. "But hey, welcome. Dining room's down that hall."

"Hong brought some of his favorite snacks for dessert, and Mei and I brought some noodle soup," Lien said.

"Smells great Lien," Bella said as the four walked into the dining room. People walked around, chatting and seeing all the food with their chosen seats marked by something of theirs- Zane let his koala bear watch his seat, but the one chair no one even considered taking was the one that held Ivan's coat.

Hong slipped through the crowd and set his panda in the closest available seat, which just happened to be next to Monty. The panda looked over at the koala, and gave a little wave, which the other just scoffed at.

"Nice bear. Cute," Zane said. "It's a p..pan...pan.."

"Panda. It's a panda," Hong said. _Idiot..._

"Yeah. Never seen one of those up close before. Just at zoos," he said. When Hong didn't reply and began walking to a corner of the room, Zane followed him and continued on. "So what you think of the party?" The only answer he received was a shrug.

"Don't look so down. Around here Christmas morning is spent with family and the evening spent with friends and lovers," Zane said.

_Why isn't he just going away?_ "Exactly why I should be at home. No one here is my friend, and I have no interest in a relationship right now."

"Hm, really?" Zane asked. "Hey, are related to Arthur Kirkland?"

Hong nodded. "Distant cousins. I used to live with him when I first came here."

"Figured. The eyebrows tipped me off. I got 'em too." Hong looked up. _So he does, so he does._

"The name's Zane."

"Hong."

"Nice to meet ya."

Nearby Elizaveta hovered with her camera. "What are you doing?" Katyusha asked.

"My yaoi radar is going off all around those two."

Katyusha roller her eyes. "Come on. It's time to eat."

Ivan sat down in his seat and looked up to see Natalya walking towards him. "Hello Natalya. Um, are you sitting next to me?"

Natalya smiled just barely and shook her head. "Katyusha can. I'm sitting next to Lili." Ivan nodded with a small understanding smile hidden just behind a thick scarf.

* * *

Later after most of the food had been eaten, the only food left being the dessert that was slowly disappearing, the group slowly migrated to the living room. Natalya slipped out to the back porch while everyone was distracted- well, almost everyone. Lili followed her soon after, into the snowy night.

"What are you doing out here? Everyone else is inside," Natalya said.

"I could ask you the same."

She sighed. "Just thinking."

"About what?" Lili asked. "You already had two whole weeks to think."

"Just about... how the little moments seemed to change everything. Kiku set up a blind date between Katyusha and Elizaveta, but what if he had chosen someone else? What if Chelle hadn't stayed at Bella's after the Halloween party?"

"What if I hadn't gone to the swings that day or what if you hadn't found the path and followed it?" Lili offered. Natalya nodded. "I think there's a word for all those moments."

"And that would be?"

"Fate." Lili said.

Bella opened the back door. "Hey! You guys never put the star on the tree! I advise you to do it before Elizaveta gets to it."

"Coming!" Lili said. She turned and smiled at Natalya. "Let's go. Elizaveta isn't the most patient girl in the world," she said with a laugh.

Natalya smiled back and nodded. The two walked back inside to a room full of chatter and people. Zane and Hong were talking in a corner, a distance away from everyone else. Ivan was trying to lead Toris closer to the mistletoe, something the shorter man kept finding excuses to avoid. Chelle and Katyusha were trying to keep Elizaveta away from the star while Bella watched. Monica, Cloe, Lein and Mei were sitting on the couch talking about what they had gotten that morning for Christmas.

Lili picked up the little star as Elizaveta sat down sulkily. She looked at Natalya after glancing at the few inches separating her from the top of the tree. "Give me a boost?" she asked.

Natalya nodded and picked Lili up by the waist. "Good?"

"Yes," Lili said, placing the star on the tree. "Thank you."

"No problem," she said. Natalya turned to Katyusha. "It was nice party Katyusha, but I need to go home now."

"I'm staying at Natalya's tonight, so I guess I'll go to," Lili said.

"Oh, well, have a safe walk home. I'm so glad you could come," Katyusha said.

"Don't freeze to death before you make it back home!" Zane called.

Ignoring Zane's comment, Lili said, "Merry Christmas." An echo of the others saying the same came as the two walked to the door. Slipping on their jackets and boots, the two walked out the door and into the snow.

* * *

"It really has been a lovely day. Everyone's been so happy," Lili said, slowly intertwining her hand in Natalya's.

"Yeah. It's a day when it's hard to be anything but happy, I suppose," Natalya said, a blush growing on her face. "The year ends soon though."

"That's a strange way of putting it."

"What do you mean?"

"You make it sound like something's ending. But while the old year ends, a new one begins. When one thing ends, another begins," Lili said.

Natalya thought for a moment before nodding. "An ending and a beginning. That sounds nice." Soon the two walked up to Natalya's house. Lili's eyes wandered as Natalya unlocked the door.

"Um, Natalya." Lili said, a small finger pointing to the doorway above their heads. Natalya looked up and saw a clump of mistletoe dangling there. Looking back at Lili, she noticed that the shorter girl was blushing.

Natalya pulled Lili close and pushed a strand of hair out of her way. She cupped the shorter blonde's cheek gently. Lili leaned forward and captured the other's lips in a soft, simple kiss. Her heart fluttered in her chest as a deep blush grew on her face. All too soon, the two pulled apart. Lili looked up at Natalya.

"We should go inside," Natalya said. Lili nodded. Once the two were seated on the couch, an old Christmas movie playing on the TV, Lili had her head on Natalya's shoulder. "Do you want to go to sleep?" Natalya asked. Lili shook her head weakly, already starting to fall asleep. Natalya moved around and let the smaller girl lay down. She wrapped her arms around her and pet her head gently.

_If fate consists of the little moments that change things, then every moment is important. And I don't intend to miss a single bit of it._ Natalya looked at Lili and kissed her once on the forehead. _This is only the beginning._

_

* * *

_

**And it's over. Sorry that this is so late, but Christmas and relatives took up a lot of my time, so I couldn't get started till Tuesday. I wanted to make this last chap long and good, so it took a bit. I guess the only thing I might have to explain is who Zane is, but I HOPE that the koala and his relation to Wy kinda told you he was Australia.**

**I guess I just want to say now that this whole story has been an experiment for me, on several levels. 1, could I write yuri. 2, could I pull off a yuri multi-chap fic and finish it. 3, could I write a realistic fiction. I have never written yuri, it's been a long time since I wrote a multi-chap thing, I've never really finished one, and whenever I do write it's a fiction (because I hate the limits of a realistic fiction. I hate having to take the laws of physics into consideration. Especially gravity.) Added to that, this whole thing had very little planning and I truly think that I could do a lot better.**

**BUT! T~T Despite my suckiness, you guys have been so kind about reviews! If I could, I would send all you guys chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter fudge, and a cup of hot chocolate! **

**The last thing I have to say is that this is not the last BelaLiech story I will be writing. Writing is a good stress reliever for me and practice makes perfect, and when plot bunnies come I find it best to just grab one and work with it. But I learned my lesson and started out slow with this one. I've already got a packet of pages in my purse. 2 pages back and front are full of planning, 1 page has extra info that I'll need to remember, and 6 pages back and front containing rough drafts of chapter one, two, and about half of chapter 3. That's all I'll say about it.**

**Now, if you excuse me, I need to go take a shower and make any last preparations for a church ski trip I'm going on. I'm getting up at 5 something in the morning Friday, and today is Thursday. Byes~**


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